Zoids: The Liger
by yo11110
Summary: OC story. When a certain complicated kid called Kayn acquires a Liger tpye Zoid that seems nothing more than a personal custom along with a mysterious blonde girl that insists the Liger belongs to her, serious of troubles come along, all seemingly targeting the Liger's owner. A fixed ending with a spoiled beginning unfolds.
1. Pilot

Sometimes war, sometimes catastrophes, or sometimes just something that happened to be so powerful it could wipe a planet clean as though god himself was just washing a dish. Either way, something destructive had happened sometimes ago, making the unfortunate planet Zi an inferno until some time later humans started to develop technology again, in the exact same way the previous generation did, like undoing and redoing a word document.

* * *

A boy with short, spiky reddish-orange hair and emerald eyes stood in the middle of a desert, behind a boulder to cover himself. He was wearing a white vest under a sleeveless brown hood that didn't go all the way down to his waist. His lower torso was covered in brown pants and black boots; the only things that weren't brown on him were his arm guards, with a gradient of stair-like layers going down from the elbow to the wrist, colored in dark green. All that brown made him well hidden in the sand.

If anyone had seen him, they wouldn't know that he was himself a Bounty Hunter, a somewhat well known organization with arguable legality that took jobs nobody else wanted to do for whoever wealthy enough to pay. He was their youngest member, who had been carried into the group since he was seven, or rather; he had asked to be taken.

Kayn eyed his surroundings. Everything seemed so terribly similar to ordinary eyes –sands and rocks repeating their yellowish, pinkish brown patches over the dry land on which warm, gentle breeze swiped through.

But to trained eyes, there were so much more to see. Despite only being thirteen, Kayn could already tell the stories hidden in the sands –the footprints, wheel tracks that had pressured upon the flexible ground and had now faded with the blowing wind that had occurred some time ago. Hiding behind a dozen of weirdly shaped rocks, with the sun hanging high right above him, he started to get nervous. He was supposed to be waiting for his target, and he'd done so, with an increasing tendency to move on.

Surely, having been a Bounty Hunter, the redhead was more than glad to have been assigned his first solo mission at his age. Then again, his past had motivated him, resulting in his being one of the best regardless of his time spent in this career.

But now he was really starting to get impatient, one thing that should never happen on a Hunter. _It shouldn't take this long,_ he thought. There's really not much things more torturing than getting stuck in the middle of a desert on the medieval-tech Zi. Even with most of the time he'd spent in a desert, it was still not at all enjoyable to have the heat accompanying him.

His mission was simple: up in this track, a gang was going to travel with a Zoid they'd acquired in a questionable manner. All he needed to do was to sneak up to them, get inside the cockpit, and drive that thing away before anyone could chase him, to where it belonged, and claim the reward. The whole thing was that simple.

"It's getting way too long." He began to mumble. Instinctively he walked out from his post and pulled over his hood, protecting his head from the sand grains that were hovering all over the place.

And then, just when he was about to have a quick scout, sounds of machinery entered his ears with the soft breeze. _Let the raid begin._

* * *

Allia wasn't having her best day. Honestly though, she'd never really had a day in the pass couples of months that she could call "good", but still, even those were better than being involved in a part of a mob raid, in which she was forced to post as one of those masked members, guarding the delivery they took from her.

 _Just because_ _I_ _couldn_ _'_ _t activate it didn_ _'_ _t mean it_ _'_ _s not mine!_ Thought her, struggling to keep her pretending as one of the many burglars. Not very long ago, she'd ridden the exact same Zoid as she got into the wilder part of the wild, but just a moment ago it had ignored every of her instructions and she could only be thankful that she wasn't still locked in the cockpit before the entire thing blacked out. it didn't make any sense at all, though, seeing that a Zoid didn't need any kind of fuels to run, nor had anyone seen a Zoid went into a coma like this one did.

And she hated it. After all, she was supposed to be running from whatever might be after her. Maybe it wasn't all that bad though, now that she'd mixed herself into a mob gang. But if they keep on going like this, who was to be sure she could ever be free again? They could sell the Zoid, get a fortune out of it, but then what was to become of her?

So far, she could only be as cooperative as she could, which really wasn't much; she wasn't born to be cooperating with thieves, and she had practically met none before. _At least_ _I_ _know_ _I_ _should never run into any of these anymore._ She thought. Just at the same moment, she could hear a light noise coming from behind her. Most probably, she was just hearing things in her mind, knowing that a slight click sound could mean anything in the middle of a transporting vehicle.

 _Hopefully something should happen, and by then, I_ _'_ _m getting out of here for certain._

* * *

It wasn't all that hard to get into an illegal gangs transports after all.

 _Stealing from the thieves; that_ _'_ _s gonna be fun._ Thought Kayn, giving a slight grin instinctively.

The cargo itself, if there were any cargos to be reckoned with, was simple. The target Zoid, known only to be a Liger type, was covered by a gigantic brownish-white cloth that was hooked to a trolley on its four angles, carried by two or three Baratz-type Zoids.

It almost stunned Kayn how so few –practically zero –guards were there. It seemed to him that whoever orchestrated this transport must be either too confident or simply possessing an incredible stupidity.

"Either way, they'll find out when someone else has driven there Zoid away," Kayn didn't even fear to mumble, confident that no one would hear him, "no way they can't notice that."

Steadying himself, the redhead sneaked into the inside of the curtain. No guards either, at least not visible ones. It was dark inside, with the minimal amount of the outstandingly blinding sunlight outside leaking in through the fluffy gaps the cloth failed to conceal.

It took time to adjust his eyes to the darkness, and by than he could see his target. It was, as stated in the report, a Liger-type, only it wasn't a white one he was supposed to get. It was the lighting, maybe? He approached it regardless of the circumstance, knowing that he'd gotten on the right track at the right time. It was probably just that the client hadn't been too well at distinguishing colors. Either way, he was excited, knowing that he'd probably get to pilot a Zoid on his own, though he'd have to return it to the client in just a matter of hours.

"Time to see if those annoying trainings work." Muttered him as he started to climb on the Zoid's feet to get to its cockpit. Now that he'd got a closer inspection at it, he could be pretty sure that it was different from what the mission report had described. It was essentially a Liger Zero, no doubt, but its main color wasa mat-black, with slightly different looking, more angular navy-blue armor. Even its side wings seemed too large that they could easily be used as blades.

"Never mind, intelligence goes wrong all the time," murmured Kayn as he put his hand on the living machine. So absorbed in the sense of satisfaction that he never realized a figure walking from behind, approaching the young Hunter.

Before the guard could attack, however, Kayn noticed the incoming strike and struck first, turning rapidly with one of his gloved fists swinging at the guard. The guard, responding fast, gripped the red-haired boy's forearm, pressed his shoulder, and forced him back such that his back was leaning against the Zoid's leg.

The boy's reddish-brown hair and green eyes were certainly unusual sights, as the guard said in a soft, low female voice, "You're not one of them; who are you and what are you planning to do with _my_ Zoid?"

"What are you talking about?" uttered Kayn in confusion, but then he decided it was probably just the guard deciding that she would take the Liger Zero as hers. Not willing to give up his mission, with the observation that she was the only guard around, the redhead retaliated, knocking the guard's gripping arm with his free hand while utilizing the force of the motion to get him to a more open space. To his surprise, as opposed to the menacing look of the blank mask worn by her, she was tremendously weaker than he'd expected and in a matter of seconds their positions would've been reversed had he not kicked her legs and leg her fall.

With the temporal victory, Kayn crouched down at his fallen enemy. "I couldn't help but notice something," whispered him as he reached out for the mask, "Your accent is a bit too elegant, and your strength too weak, to be a bandit. Plus, you just said something about 'them', so who are you really?"

As he pulled the mask off, however, he figured he had had half his question answered already. Behind the mask was a pretty face of a young girl, perhaps even younger than Kayn himself. The girl had incredibaly short cut dark blonde, with her pale green, almost dead white eyes giving him a deadly glare, and a very round face, probably due to her age.

"You haven't answered my question," said the girl in a hasty tone, "what do you want with _my_ Zoid?"

"I'm pretty sure it's not yours," replied Kayn, almost immediately, "it's from a man, not a five-year-old like you, called Lian, who just happened to get _his_ Zoid over there robbed and went to us for help," said the redhead, pointing at the black Liger Zero. "Now, I'm not sure why you're not on the robber's side. Perhaps you're some other gangs, trying to steal it from here, who just happened to come across me."

"I am no thief, not like you! And I'm not five!" retorted the blonde. "I have a proper name, called Allia. Now, I'd really like to know where did you get the name Lian, cause I've never, for once, heard that name before in my life."

Kayn could really care less about everything the Allia girl had just said. It had been a hard time on Zi, at least at the land he knew. Quite near the Hunter's camp was the country Zya, which had been in quite a good shape, having been maintaining an uneasy peace until events just burst out all at once very recently. Another country, or rather, an empire, Rouves, which was known by its emphasis on military expansion, had recently been reported to be seen at the boundary of Zya.

Zya itself, of course, was not having much of a good time either. A serious of incidents that were too impossible to be coincident, occurred over the past few weeks, with its king finally ending up dead from his years-long disease, its rate of industry advance decreasing, and strangest of all, the sixteen-year-old prince was put into the throne with his younger sister mysteriously missing, presumed dead, having last been seen in the boundary of the country at which another invasion of Rouves was spotted.

Kayn of course, knew nothing more than that. The increased raids from Rouves, as well as the instability of Zya itself, meant opportunity to the Hunters. More and more traveling merchants had been requiring the Hunters to escort them safely across the lands. Though that wasn't exactly the kind of job the Hunters did, they didn't mind a little extra payment. Never been a bodyguard before, Kayn had only heard that some other unclaimed towns, owned by neither country and standing on their own, had been raid more frequently. It seemed that, with the recovering technology to revive a Zoid by digging its core out of the ground, the country had gotten more and more aggressive.

"Whatever you say, I'm not gonna stop here because of some random encounters." Said Kayn.

"Well then, good luck trying!" uttered Allia in the loudest whisper possible.

"Whatever!" muttered Kayn as he climbed up the Zoid, reaching its cockpit.

"Didn't I tell you it was mine," said Allia, trying to lure Kayn down. Seeing the impossibility, she started to climb up the cockpit as well. "Right until some days ago it was still under my control, and then it just stopped by itself right before the robbers came, so don't blame me if you find it impossible to steal."

"I'm not stealing, and you're not gonna convince me with your silly story," mumbled Kayn. Realizing that Allia had climbed up quite fast and was about to reach him, the red-haired boy searched the button for the cockpit desperately, while the blonde had already gotten right next to him, ready to kick him down if possible to protect her property.

"You can try, but it won't work." Whispered Allia.

Kayn gave her a shrug, annoyed. The girl in front of him didn't seem to be lying, and looked quite confident in her words, making the trained yet inexperienced Hunter wonder for a moment if she had been telling the truth, and his client lying the whole time. And though it seemed stupid to trust a stranger over a paid customer, both of them were practically strangers, and that made their words equally doubtable.

Still, he pressed the button, giving a confident smile as the cover of top of the Liger sprang upwards, revealing the clean, illuminated console inside while the blonde standing next to him had her jaws simply dropped impossibly low.

"Thank you, but I like to take my chances." Teased the boy.

"Take you chances of what?" an unfamiliar sound came striking from underneath. It was until then could either of them realize that, so engaged in the conversation had they been, that they had let their guards down, and that the real robbers, presumably having heard their argument or any noise caused during that period, had discovered the "pair" of thieves that was caught right in the middle of stealing their stolen. There were approximately six of the gang members all in total, each wearing the same blank white mask with a rifle in hand, pointing straight at Kayn and Allia.

Kayn estimated the odds. The gunners were far below him, with their guns pointing upwards, which could possibly mean that their shots wouldn't reach them, at least not without a few unsuccessful tries whereas he, as well as his uninvited companion, could easily duck into the cockpit of the Liger and, if possible, get out of the situation with ease. Still, for the moment, he couldn't risk taking any moves yet, not knowing if anyone below was a good shot.

Allia, on the other hand, thought less than the redhead. All she knew was that they were caught in the middle of escaping, and that could very well be the only chance for her to get out of whoever was targeting her once and for all. Making up her mind, she got down rapidly and dove into the cockpit of the Zoid. For a moment she had thought of leaving Kayn behind to clean up the mess by himself, but then, on the account that he actually activated the Liger Zero, and thus was basically the one to give her the chance to run, she took him in while he seemed to be deep in thoughts.

Immediately as the two made a move, the gunners fired their rifles with nothing held back. Bullets flew straight at the black Liger, with most of them hitting the Zoid's armor and a few of them having made their way to the cockpit, where the two thieves had disappeared in.

"What are you thinking?" grumbled Kayn as he fell into the crowded space with the blonde. "You could've gotten us killed!"

"Really? I think I acted faster than you do, thief." Uttered Allia, clicking a few buttons around while trying to get into a proper position. Nothing happened as she pressed the buttons.

"Why is it still not listening to me?"

"Perhaps because it's not yours," uttered Kayn as he took over the motorcycle-like sit and scanned his surroundings. The interior of this Zoid was, unfortunately, not necessarily the same setup as the ones he used to train in, making it a completely unexpected condition to him. Despite that, several fundamental handles, latches, levers were the always there. Utilizing the little pre-existing knowledge that could be of use at the moment, he made his first move by closing in the cockpit, preventing them from being shot, impressing the blonde again.

"By the way, thievery is not my occupation," uttered the redhead, "not all the time, at least."

"Stop talking and focus on them!" demanded the girl, pointing at multiple screens that showed the robbers climbing up the limbs of the Zoid. "They're coming up!"

"What'd you want me to do?" said Kayn, annoyed. "I can't just move this thing around and drop them!"

"You're worried about them while they're trying to kill us?"

"Fine!" muttered Kayn, controlling the Liger to perform minimal movement, trying to scare whoever already onboard off the Zoid before he had to shake them off, which would result in the killing of them in the process.

The robbers, those that were already climbing on the Zoid, flinched as its legs moved lightly. Some of them got off immediately, while one or two of them proceeded, determined to reach the cockpit and get it to open, violent or not. Those that retreated onto the floor weren't unoccupied as well; rapidly they got with themselves ropes, tying them on latches on the transporting vehicle.

"Can't you just do things faster?" uttered Allia, nervous at the sight of the robbers attempting to tied them up, only to get the irritated response "At least I can drive this thing!" from Kayn. Desperately, she said, "Shouldn't you be experienced with this kinds of circumstances? You're a thief!"

"Excluding trainings, everyone's got their first!" shouted Kayn. He simply couldn't deal with the blonde anymore. Nevertheless, he did know she was telling the truth, and that she had every reason to panic under this kind of situation. More to that, he knew he had to act fast to avoid getting caught, but he still had his occupational ethics of not killing if possible, and, under no threats from armed Zoids, it seemed to him improper to break the code.

Fate, however, had another arrangement for him. Before he could make any decisions, the entire cargo shook with a loud bang. It happened again soon and more frequently, causing the platform to flip over along with the Liger Zero on it. By the time Kayn could gain a clear vision again, the whole cargo had already been practically half-buried within the sand, with the Baratz flipped upside-down. Not far away, riding towards the cargo, were a number of Unenlagia, colored in mat black with a little red strips as details. Everyone with common sense knew what that meant.

"Uh oh," muttered Kayn, "Rouves."

* * *

 **Note: About that whole 'low tech' thing, the most I wanted to eliminate was electricity. I'm quite a Genesis fan myself and am quite attracted by the Bionicle universe as well (I recently re-read Raid on Volcanus). I just want to write something with with that kind of Environment. Other than that, this will be a weekly update (hopefully) and I wish I can finish writing in time. I'm wirting something else as well.**

 **Also, I have some very basic drawings of the characters and, seeing that I'm not too good at drawing (also too lazy), they look like Hasbro pprduct shots. The link is shown below. In case you're new to the system, get rid of the spacing intehe link.**

 **www. flickr photos/ 133251277 N02 /sets / 72157654687339888**


	2. Attack

"Of all time, they have to be here, at this moment." uttered Kayn, annoyed by the appearance of the black and red Zoids. He could count approximately five of them, all well armed. It seemed odd to him though, knowing that Rouves was a country more focused on military expansion instead of small raids on trading companies.  
"Well, go fight them!" demanded Allia, "You know you won't stand a chance running from them."  
"I don't need back seat drivers!" Complained the redhead. The unfamiliar control console, with the addition of a stranger directing his every move with him in a crowded space, and the aggressive country's Zoids, simply made him confused, not sure which to deal with first.  
The Unenlagia, however, knew exactly what to do; they showed little interest in the Baratz, leaving them lying on the ground or simply stepping on them if they got in their way. Their target was obviously the Liger Zero, which, currently unknown to its pilot, had its legs half-buried in the sand and its torso barely keeping over the surface of the desert.  
Without any warning, the dinosaur-like Zoids struck, firing their cannons. They weren't disorganized, with two of them drifting left and right instead of charging straight at the Liger like the rest of the three did, rounding the black Zoid up.  
"Do something!" uttered Allia.  
"Trying!" replied Kayn. Now that he'd gotten a bit more familiar with the control panels, he could at least get the living machine to move as he wished, jumping up from the golden sand, leaping towards the three Unenlagia that were charging right at it to dodge the cannon shots. That was when the two Unenlagia that'd gotten to either sides of the Liger opened fire. With their target gone, all they could do was to take down one another with their own shots.  
Not used to real combat, the Liger Zero landed on one of the three Unenlagia, knocking it over, pressing on top of it while the two next to it engaged in close combat, gripping the Liger with their claws, attempting to knock it away from their fallen comrade.  
Noticing the two attacking, but not able to do anything, all Allia managed to do was to shout out things while Kayn was trying to get better control over the Zoid and replying her in an annoyed manner all the time. It wasn't until now did he realize the difference between training and real life combat, and quite frantically, he wasn't prepared to be in battle. If everything had gone along smoothly the way it was supposed to be, he would still be in need of further training before he took on missions that required some necessary violence.  
 _And obviously I'd be piloting it alone by then!_ Thought him. The impact from the battle and the blonde herself were driving him crazy, but he knew he'd have to do something if he still wanted to have a life to be crazy. He first steadied the Zoid, which wasn't an easy job already. The Unenlagia lying under the Liger Zero was struggling, while the other two were pushing it on either side, making it almost impossible to just remain standing. Then, remembering the oversized side wings, Kayn deployed them, spreading the swords wide to knock out the two Unenlagia before the Liger backed off from the struggling Unenlagia.  
"What now?" mumbled him. His three enemies seemed to be in the least mood of retreating, while he wasn't sure if he could just make it back to the Hunters' camp alive and keep the Liger Zero intact.  
But his opponents gave him no time to think. Once they had gotten into a more proper formation again, they struck, firing the cannons while each taking a different route, attacking from three different directions. Kayn never really knew how it felt like to kill until now; he had no choice but to do so, and he had convinced himself that the killing was simply a need for his survival as he piloted the Liger Zero and slashed through the Unenlagia in front of him. It exploded immediately after that, giving its pilot no possible chance to escape.  
The other two, noticing that over half of their force had been reduced, began to retreat, running away. Kayn, however, pursued, not willing to let any of them return and report the incident. Though his identity as a bounty had not been discovered by any of the Rouves Zoids, he wouldn't want them to trace the Liger back to the mission, and thus back to the entire organization. With that in mind, he decided to clean off the remaining two.  
The Liger Zero accelerated, chasing the Unenlagia, and in no time it reached one of the smaller, black Zoid, slicing it into two. The other, having taken a completely opposite route, had proved to be too much of a difficulty to pursue, and was left untraced.  
"What are you going to do now?" asked Allia, her tone a lot softer that the one she'd been using. "I don't think any of these is coincident."  
"What else can I do?" uttered Kayn. "Drive back to the Hunters, report the incident, and hope to get this Mr. Lian to tell us what exactly happened." he turned to the blonde. "And you're coming too, since you insist it's yours. And I guess I can't leave you in the middle of a desert right now."

* * *

Not too far away, Allen slowly walked into a room. There his mother was, lying on bed as she'd been ever since she'd given birth to his younger sister, who, tragically, disappeared not long ago and was presumed dead. She'd been one with the bed literally, not having been able to even take a few steps of walk to fall. The only functional part of her seemed to be whatever's left on her head. An intriguing fact was that, as sick as she was, she wasn't very old, not even having reached forty-five.  
Nonetheless, if anyone had ever lived half of her life, they'd certainly quit asking for the reason for her sickness, and even praise her for still being alive. The woman, Allen's mother, had spent more than a decade being a queen for the country Zya. As glorifying as that seemed, the stress was immense, and, being more an ordinary woman than a genius, she had already taken care of the pressure of being the wife of the focus of the country better than any other. Things, however, started to turn darker, after she had nearly dead giving birth to her daughter, which was about twelve years ago. Since then she'd been sick, but not quite as severe as she was now before the king's death. Interestingly though, the king also died of illness.  
Around the time when the king died, several reports of Rouves invading Zya had been presented. And, not being able to deal with it, she'd been living like dead.  
Her son wasn't having an easy life either. Being at the age of just eighteen, he'd already received more education and expectation that others of the same age. And now the crown had automatically been inherited to him. The entire country was now under his control. One stupid decision, and millions suffer. The worst was, he didn't know how to run a country. He was supposed to do that only after some twenty years, and even by then, he wouldn't be so sure if he could take such a responsibility. Sometimes the crown felt so heavy and light on his head. The only fortune he managed to find was that one of his relatives, Wels, brother to the deceased king, was willing to help him, relieving him from the stress. Still, it was Allen that was the face of the country, not Wels.  
"How is everything going, son?" asked his mother. The winkles on her face made her look she ought to be sixty by now.  
"I'm still not sure if I was the right one to take the place," replied the under-aged king. "Everything that is here right now is because Wels helped me. I can't imagine how the country would survive if he hadn't done so."  
Not to his awareness, a tall, lean figured had already walked into the room. He had a stern face, sharp eyes, with a facial expression that told neither anger nor assurance; his dark hair was cut short, but not to the likeness of boldness. The first impression he had always managed to give to others was the creepiness. His long, black church-coat, and his blank expression, along with his overly well-kept manners, made strangers simply impossible to believe that he was the Wels who'd been so kind to help the young king with almost every problem he'd encountered.

"It is only my duty," said the man. His voice, though gentle, retained a trace of his menacing nature.  
"You have come here," uttered Allen, surprised.  
"My brother may be gone, but I still have to take care of what he treasured the most." replied Wels. Though visiting frequently did little to no good to the condition of the former queen, the presence of both her son and her late husband's brother did more than little mental comfort to her.  
A man walked up and handed a tiny scrawl of paper to Wels. Upon reading it, the black-suited man's expression turned slightly dark, and than back to that emotionless state, saying, "it's business. I've got to go."  
"It's lucky you have this man on your side." muttered the sick queen lightly, before being advised that she needed more rests.

* * *

"Now where are you intending to take me to," muttered Allia, "thief?"  
"If you don't mind, and I'm sure you'll not, I have a proper name, too." argued the redhead, "I am Kayn, and once again, I'm not a thief!"  
"Then maybe you won't mind telling me where you're trying to get me abducted?"  
"If you want it that much, I can easily drop you off at any time. It's you that needs to walk home by then, not me." Kayn couldn't take it anymore. They were on their way to the Hunters' camp, and would be there pretty soon, but he wanted to spend not even one more second with the blonde. All she managed to do was keeping talking, talking and talking, occasionally accusing him of being a thief and putting her in that kind of situation.  
"If you're not a thief, and not a kidnapper, than what are you?" asked the blonde.  
"If you could only ask," sighed Kayn, realizing that he had yet to introduce himself properly. As much as he disliked being mistaken as something else, he was partially responsible for that "I am, you might not believe, a Bounty Hunter. The legal ones, I must say, not the one that raid on whatever they want."  
That was, as expected, not to be believed immediately.  
"You have to be a better liar," teased Allia, "you don't look much older than me."  
"Told you wouldn't believe it."  
"If you really are one, than your skills are too terrible," commented the blonde, "if someone like me can easily sneak behind you."  
"Everyone has their first!" replied Kayn, "and it's not like that everyone can survive their first."  
Allia wanted to reply immediately, say something that would leave the boy no more to argue back, but then something stopped her temporally. The word "Hunter" kept her mind occupied, as though she'd heard about it some times earlier. She than remembered a name, perhaps the most important one at the moment, that she had had no clue before.  
"If," she started, "if you are really a Hunter, than you must have heard of the person Elvan?"  
"Not only heard of." answered Kayn, surprising even himself that he wasn't speaking in that irritated manner. "Everybody hears it, of course."  
This person known as Elvan was not someone that you would only hear of in tales of some grumpy old men. He was, or had been, after all, a living legend some ten years ago. Noticeably the best out of the entire military department of Zya, he had also participated in Zoids competitions, the ones people used to serve as a relatively more civilized way to settle problems between tribes by sending representatives to fight each other instead of decimating one another, and had been taken as more of an entertainment than problem-solving tool since nations and governments raised. Someone even said (which was quite true) that due to the fortunate small number of military conflicts Zya had had to face, he actually participated more in the arena than in actual battlefield. Either way, his strength and skills were undoubtably convincing. Lately, within this decade, however, he hadn't been seen around the arenas after he had resigned his place in the army. Some say that he simply couldn't take the fights with his growing age, which was partially true. The fact was, knowing that he was not as good as he used to be, he had chosen to leave the arena quietly and had joined the Bounty Hunters to keep him on the move.  
"What's wrong with him?" asked Kayn.  
"I just needed to find him," replied Allia a little unwillingly with her softening tone. "That's why I was out here in the first place."

"But why would you know that?" questioned Kayn, "Many knows him by reputation, but few knows he's know a Hunter."

"I have my means." Claimed Allia.

"Whatever," sighed Kayn. "Maybe you should tell me what else you want, once and for all, and then shut up for good."

"If you would be that kind." Muttered Allia, "Water?"

"In case you didn't know where we are," replied Kayn, apparently annoyed, "water's not an option."

"And if I say I want you to hand me over the control of the Liger, would you do that?"

"Impossible, either."

* * *

It took about two hours ride before they could reach the Hunters' camp. It was located at the boundary of Zya, polar to where Rouves usually attacked. In short, it was a collection of warehouses –giant warehouses –lined irregularly together on an uneven slope. One of them stood out in particular, having a cleaner surface instead of the rusted and scratched, decayed beyond believe walls of the others. That was where Kayn piloted the Liger into.

"Now you can get down," said him as the Zoid reached a wooden platform, "not a perfect site, I know."

Allia, as opposed to her previous talkative side, walked down slowly and steadily. She didn't even bother what Kayn was telling her about the warehouse being the very base of the Hunters, and whatever Zoid they'd got were stored there.

"Just to declare it again, we are a legal organization, free of national restrictions." Said the redhead.

Allia looked around, amazed. Though the first thing that she should've done was to look for the Elvan she'd been seeking, the camp was proved a bit too distracting for newcomers. Aside from the Liger Zero, lined in a perfect straight line at the side of the chamber, there stood a dozen of Lightning Saix, the major type used by the Zyan military, which didn't have much work to do all the time. Though Kayn had repeatedly claimed that the Hunters were legal, she had to wonder how they got a hand on these.

And in the far end, hidden in the shadow at the corner, was a Zoid that was covered in a brown cloth. It had approximately the same size, maybe just a bit smaller, to that of the Liger Zero. Its features, though mostly covered by the cloth, indicated that it was something different –so different that it had to be treated with extra care.

Kyane talked to a few of the workers here about the Zoid not being the one as described, and then turned to Allia, saying, "You're here to find Elvan, right?"

"And take back my Zoid, stolen by you!" replied the blonde.

"In that case, good luck talking with him, I'm gonna go take a shower first." Said Kayn, rapidly disappearing into one of the other smaller stashes.

Allia, being left on her own, scanned her surroundings, and then she remembered one of the most vital conditions to find the man. "I don't even know how he looks like!" she remembered something as well, "Didn't you just say that water's not an option?"

In spite of that, she talked –or at the very least, tried –to the workers around. No one seemed to be in particular interest in this stranger, having been told of her background by Kayn, which wasn't really much of a useful lot. The workers, though not sure why she was looking for the retired general, pointed at one other warehouse and said, "He doesn't really go out all that much, mostly staying there training newer Hunters, though we don't really have much."

The man, Elvan, was a middle-aged man, about forty something. The first impression Allia got was not the way his rigid face and beady black eyes looked, neither were his short black hair and goatee. It was the man's outfit that surprised her. He wasn't in the usual bulky, overly redundant outfit of usual military officials, which was totally seeing that he'd been out of the army (she simply thought he would be in one of those due to some soldier-honor). He wore a black robe-like coat that resembled much of the lower rank fighters' outfit, but his had small, square pyramid shaped objects that lined the collars. On his arms were arm guards that looked very much like Kayn's green ones, only Elvan's had spikes on them.

"If you use a gun that way, you might as well just hand it over to your enemy nicely and ask him not to kill you." Uttered Elvan to one of the only two trainees around, who couldn't even get a hold on the revolver's trigger. Luckily for him, no bullets were loaded in training guns. Too focused on the training, the man could hardly notice –or just decided not to acknowledge –the presence of Allia until both trainees demanded for rest.

"You're not a familiar face around here," said the stern-faced man, "and you don't look like you're here for training, either."

"Actually, I've come here to seek help," explained Allia hesitantly, her voice a lot humbler than before, though most would do that in front of a person as terrorizing as Elvan himself, though he wasn't necessarily being that way in purpose. "You help."

"That's…intriguing, considering that only few knows of my whereabouts." Commented Elvan.

"Can we talk alone?" asked Allia, her tone starting to get serious. Noticing that, Elvan gestured for the two trainees to get outside. With that done, Allia proceeded, "My father told me to come to you incase anything happened."

"And I'm supposed to know him?"

"He is…was, the king of Zya."

* * *

Having had enough rest, Kayn decided it was time to pick up Allia. Though he was quite confident that the blonde could boss her way around the facility and get someone to guide her to Elvan, it was better to make sure that she didn't cause any trouble while doing so.

 _Maybe she could get Elvan angry. Nobody really dose that nowadays._ Thought the redhead, heading straight to the training facility, knowing that the man was always there in the day. It wasn't the two trainees outside of the facility that surprised him the most. He expected to see the blonde, who should be quite spoiled a child according to his observations, getting scolded for her manner. But instead, Allia and Elvan were talking fine, seemingly discussing some important issues as well. And most importantly, she didn't seem to be misbehaving at all.

"What the heck…" uttered Kayn in disbelief.

Noticing that the redhead had walked into their conversation, Allia stopped talking immediately as though she could not speak properly in his presences while Elvan said, "Well, kid, what do you make of her?" Kayn, having been trained by the Hunters and spent most of his time in the sands, had grown quite used to observing details and relating them to particular general facts, otherwise known as stereotypes. In fact, he was one of the only few that was capable of doing so.

Having already spent some time with the girl, Kayn spoke, "From her dress, above average; accent, finely educated, probably a daughter of some rich merchants." He paused a while, "since she was out there finding you, her family is probably in some sort of problems –really messy ones. I bet she cut her hair to hide her identity, but that was too short for normal girls, so she lacks common sense, which is not likely to find in merchant families…"

Allia listened intensely. Her face showed disgust while inside she was rather interested in how the boy was gathering his observations, and was quite keen to listen what was his conclusion. So far, he'd been fairly accurate. Still, she chose to make an annoyed face and said, "what then, have you found in these?"

"I'd say she's a daughter of officials –the important sorts that work mostly for the royal and isolate themselves with the outside world all the time. The only thing I can't give a reason to is why they sent you out there for Elvan. Most of the time, royal troubles are some scandals or deals, and none of them requires a veteran fighter." Commented Kayn, a bit proudly.

Before Allia could say anything, Elvan, who'd been listening intensely and had remained silent, clipped his hands and said. "As accurate as usual." He turned to Allia. "I told you, there's a reason he can survive alone out in the sands."

"Now would you mid telling me, what made you go out of your, I believe, remarkably comfortable mansion and to us?" questioned the redhead.

"None of your business." Replied her, "I didn't go out looking for you."

"Well than, I've something else to discuss with Elvan, about that Mister Lian, who, not unexpectedly, hasn't contacted me back for like, 2 days?"

There, however, didn't appear to be much time for explanations, as one of the unnamed Hunters came rushing in, exhausted, bearing the news that a small squad of Rouves was waiting outside.


	3. Secrets

"That doesn't make much sense at all." Commented Kayn. As far as anyone knew, as aggressive as Rouves was, they didn't take risky moves. First, they raided only on small villages, and the villagers would always escape. Then they became more confident, or rather, bold, and started to take down neutral towns, mostly the kind that provided temporal hospitality for traders, but they still hadn't risked much loss; most of the time they just got whatever they wanted, mostly land, without the need to fight. That was until recently, when rumors of Rouves attacking the boundary of Zya started to break out. There hadn't been much change in the territories, though, most likely meaning that the Rouves had tasted some losses and decided not to move harsh for a while.

But attacking the Hunters' base was another issue. Standing neutral by themselves, the Hunters were, though not officially protected by various countries, mostly untouched, seeing that they were the only ones there to do things nobody else wanted to, and because of that no sane country would attack the Hunters, though they wouldn't give them protection as well. But to raid on them basically means giving up the most ideal agency in handling sensitive issues, and that didn't seem unnatural for someone as ambitious as Rouves somehow.

"You know this is totally nonsense, right?" uttered Kayn again. Elvan, however, took a different approach, and inquired, "tell me more."

The anonymous then proceeded, claiming that there were about a dozen of armed Zoids out there, without their purpose being told. That was the most he could tell, before Elvan decided they should have taken precautions by then and instructed the rest to head for the hangar and get on to the Zoids.

"They're not likely to be here to talk." Said the veteran pilot, "better get readied while they have the appetite to wait."

"But, shouldn't we ask for the commissioner's orders first?"

"He'd have noticed that by now, and would've given the same order." Replied Elvan harshly; obviously he didn't like being annoyed. He turned to Kayn and said, "Get to you Liger, kid. I don't think a phantom client would mind having his 'bounty' damaged. And, take care of the girl." With that said, the goateed man immediately rushed to the hangar.

"Why me?" mumbled Kayn. He then noticed Allia, who was seemingly as shocked as he was, and said to her, unwillingly yet gently. "Com'on, got to move out."

Allia, surprisingly, didn't say much as she followed the red-haired boy to the hangar.

* * *

Before they actually got into the store that served as the hangar, though, they could get a glimpse at the Rouves squad. There were apparently more than twice the Unenlagia as the last time Kayn had fought them, and it was never a good sign to see the dusk falling behind some aggressive military country's force. Without a word, the two got into the hangar.

"I know you won't like this, but you'll have to let me take over 'your' Liger Zero for now." Said Kayn. To his surprise, Allia, who'd been abnormally quiet for so long, got rid of him and rushed to the Lightning Saix, saying, "I know, but that doesn't mean I'll share a cockpit with you!" and with that she swiftly jumped up to a platform and got herself into one of the many mass-found Zoids.

"I knew there was something wrong with her." Muttered Kayn as he got into his Zoid. Immediately after that, he opened the telecom and informed Elvan that Allia had 'hijacked' one of their many Lightning Saix. Not to his surprise, though, the veteran fighter didn't think much of it, claiming simply that not too many of them were used often.

"It's their intension to be here that is to be worried." Commented Elvan.

"Maybe they're just trying out new targets, you know, getting bored with the little towns." Said Kayn.

While they were discussing the intensions of the notorious nation, the subject being discussed wasn't quite patient and had started the strike. The tinier, more agile Unenlagia didn't even need to find their way around the facility; the Hunters' camp wasn't all the way too huge, and most of its structures, if they could still be called that way, had been weathered beyond repair (or rather, people simply didn't want to bother repairing them), a couple of shots was all it took to set the campsite on fire.

Not willing to stand by and watch while his hospitality, practically his home, was being incinerated, Kayn charged at the squad once he heard the sound of the dimmest ember. Having fresh experience of fighting the small, dinosaurs-like machines earlier, he used the Liger Zero variant and rapidly smashed a few of the Zoids onto the ground, all the way focusing on getting the squad out while being amazed at how quickly he'd grown used to controlling the Liger.

In reality, however, his so-called experience was a little next to nothing in an actual combat. He had fought only five previous, and escaped with a little luck. This time, he was facing a lot more than that, and very sure he knew how it felt to be surrounded in the middle of a bunch of merciless killers, like the tales of how wolves hunt. He found the victim deserving of sympathy. Being surrounded by half the squad, he could really be grateful if his Zoid could simply remain standing. One strike from behind, the entire Liger fell onto its stomach, and just when it got up, almost instantaneously, another strike from an unknown direction, mostly left or right, would come and get the cycle to repeat itself.

There were, of course, more than just one Zoid in battle. The other Hunters, though not practically in combat, were helping as well, endeavoring at preventing the Unenlagia from destroying the camp further. It was already too late, however. Most of the rusted surface, being the structural weakness, had been torn apart and fell off piece by piece. A little wooden equipment caught fire immediately and could only be wished to be saved.

* * *

Rushing out of the hangar, the first thing Allia could see was the Hunters' Zoids, not Rouves'. She scanned the environment rapidly, deciding that it'd be best to stop the Zoids to stop the damage rather than preventing it from spreading. She could, however, see none before her Zoid was approached by a Unenlagia from behind. The weight of the dino caused the unprepared Saix to fall off balance, and at the same time, another came charging in the front, ready to fire.

Using the advantage of having a larger scale, Allia shook off the one on top of her, but wasn't reflexive enough to counter the incoming one. Her salvation came from behind. A white, tiger-like, winged Zoid came leaping forward, destroying the Unenlagia by snapping its torso with its claws in one swift motion. It than jumped to the others, and did the same as well, effectively reducing the amount of attacking Zoids.

Seizing the opportunity, Kayn fought back as well, controlling the Liger to perform a leap to escape from the crowd of Unenlagia, shooting at them while doing so. The best he could do, however, was to get himself out of the one against multiple situation. Most of his shots were futile, and he could really care less. The Unenlagia charged, and the Liger Zero did the same, extending its blades as it did so. Dodging bullets while rushing forward wasn't an easy job, and to be honest, being new to actual combat, Kayn could hardly do that. The Liger Zero took hits, but endured with its armor, charging straight forward regardless of the shots and slicing the Unenlagia into pieces.

"Go get the remaining three." Elvan's voice came from the telecom. Peeking around quickly, Kayn noticed that Allia was fighting three Unenlagia at once, and quite astonishingly, she was piloting the Lightning Saix quite skillfully, perhaps more skillful than the redhead with his Liger. The Saix drifted around swiftly, too swiftly for naked eyes to follow, yet the speed didn't seem to work too well in a not too open space, and, despite the fact that she did knock out the Unenlagia from time to time, they just kept standing up again.

"Get out of the way and let the professional do the job." Said Kayn despite knowing that Allia would probably ignore him or even shout back at him. The latter happened, and it did totally nothing to stop the redhead from charging towards the three Unenlagia and cutting one of them into two halves while Allia used the distraction caused and struck the remaining two in a blur, destroying both within a flash.

"Didn't you're that good." Muttered Kayn. Seemingly the fight was over, and the Hunters who had not participated in the fight had done an efficient job cleaning the mess, leaving no fire behind.

Walking out from the white tiger Zoid was Elvan, quite dumbfounding to Allia.

"Shouldn't be surprised," commented Kayn, "That's Elvan, and the Whitz Tiger."

"Get down, both of you." Said Elvan in a demanding tone, "we have serious issues to talk about."

* * *

Griff rode through a desert town in his Death Raser. If anyone asked him, he'd say that things had become too easy lately, and it was much of a disappointment. His duty, however, was to occupy wherever he was told to, and he never considered that a trouble at all.

Most of the time, he got to fight someone –someone that, though not as strong as he was, could help him kill some time before getting transferring the town's name under Rouves'. Lately, however, people just started fleeing before the fight even started, and that was pushing the young pilot to his first taste of real boredom. Being a talented and somewhat gifted son of a warlord family, he'd always been looking forward to a real honorable fight with someone while handling the conquering. After all, he had not much interest in either land or national glory.

"Let's hope I can get to some serious works soon," mumbled him. A follow-up squad had already arrived, leaving him nothing to do but to get back to the headquarters. Sometimes he wondered why his country was trying so hard claiming land over everything else, yet he simply decided that he would care less, as long as he got a place to do his job. And he did.

The only other thing that tackled in his mind was the late rumors that Rouves had sent a team to wipe out the Bounty Hunters. Personally, he never thought much of the Hunters. They were simply there because they couldn't fit in anyplace, and that wasn't quite honorable according to him. That, however, didn't make raiding the Hunters any less insensible.

At least, he had to live with the orders.

* * *

"And how come I still can't make it move?" grumbled Allia, still endeavoring to activate her Zoid despite knowing that all her attempts would just be futile.

"It's not uncommon that Zoids being picky about their pilots. And, we decided to call it Liger Zero X, to state clear it's different from the others." Uttered Kayn causally, sitting on a railing in the hanger. "Anyway, I'm more interested, or rather, urgent to know your business here." He continued, "It can't be an coincidence that you just happened to show up, and all of a sudden a bunch of army ran into us."

"That's not of your concern, if you really want an answer." Replied the blonde, "and about your Zoids picking pilots theory, I owned it, so it can only make sense if I can make it move."

"I don't find it hard to understand why it 'dumped' you." Joked the redhead.

"That's not funny at all!" exclaimed Allia, though it failed to make any thing better. The only thing she wanted right now was to get back her Liger Zero, and then get out of the place as soon as possible. Though she'd been assured by Elvan that her needs here would be given, she'd still been giving her own future to a man she didn't know at all. Now that Allia thought about it, she figured she should have just stolen a Lightning Saix and gotten away earlier.

As she was thinking about it, the very person in her mind walked into the hanger.

"It seems that you're the only one capable of activating it now, kid." Uttered Elvan as he walked pass Kayn. He then turned to Allia and said in his deep voice. "The mechanics has checked it before you did, and it turned out that none of them was capable of making it move, Miss. But, as we had agreed, I'll still take your quest, and seeing that it'd be extremely inconvenient if you insist on riding in the Liger with him, I've talked the Hunters into letting you piloting the Lightning Saix you used previously."

Allia didn't seem to care much for that. Kayn, on the other hand, had been convinced that his earlier speculations were wrong, and that there was more than meet the eyes to this blonde who called herself Allia. He even doubted if that was her real name. Rushing towards Elvan, the redhead said, "I can't take it anymore. There must be something with her, or else there wouldn't be two Rouves attacks in a same day, during which she was present at both raids." He turned to Allia, who'd just gotten off the Liger Zero. "If those guys' are really after you, you'd better give me a good reason why we shouldn't just hand you over and stop all these."

"That's how you perform professionally?" asked Allia, frustrated, "I thought you Hunters took all kind of jobs. But well, you don't seem like one at all. Why are you even here in the first place? What kind of parents you have that let their kid do this kind of thing?"

"That's enough!" interrupted Elvan, almost in a roar, steeping in between the two children. If he hadn't done so, Allia would probably have seen the real angered face of Kayn, whose furious glares were blocked by Elvan's torso. Most probably, he would've punched Allia right in her face, even if she was a stranger –a suspicious stranger.

"That's the end of the discussion." Said Elvan, his voice cold and light, so light that it could just be heard. With no more words from neither the blonde nor the emotionally unstable redhead, the goateed man proceeded, "We'll do things as planned. You'll rest tonight and take off tomorrow, both of you."

"What?" the word came from both Allia and Kayn, simultaneously.

"What do I have to do with this?" Kayn first sounded his disagreement.

"And what was that 'take off'?" questioned Allia, "I don't think we talked about that!"

"You told me you would leave the whole quest to me, and stick to my decision, Allia," replied Elvan, "seeing what've just happened, it's best of you to be as far away from Zya as possible. And you…" he said, facing Kayn, who still had a facial expression filled with resentment, "You're the only one right now that can pilot the Liger Zero X, and obvious someone is coming after it quite desperately. You have no choice but to leave with us until everything is settled."

"'Us'? What'd you mean by us?" uttered Kayn, calm, yet still having a trace of frustration. "If she wants to run away, why do we have to join her?"

"Because, she's not just running away, not forever, at least." Replied Elvan, seemingly relieving the blonde, who'd been shocked since she'd heard the news of getting away. "Neither are you. And during that time, while we're committing our duty as escorts, I have an old acquaintance I have to find."

"Why do I feel like I don't like that idea?" muttered Kayn. Having spent almost six years with Elvan, he'd yet to see his mentor mention anything related to his old life, expect that he'd been taking care of the redhead like his own son because he made a promise with another 'friend'. For some odd reasons, Kayn just felt that whatever linked to Elvan's past might just be as weird as Allia.

"No, you're not." Answered Elvan, "and the worst part is, we don't know exactly where to find her."

"Her?" Uttered Allia, who'd been abnormally silent for some time. So far, she'd convinced herself to at least try to believe in this person her father had faith in, and she just found it hard letting someone other than herself take charge for now. To be honest, she'd expected Elvan to do something, and he wasn't exactly meeting her expectation.

"Is that a surprise?" said Elvan, turning back and walking out of the hanger, "she's a particularly picky woman, but she owes me a favor, and now it's time I use it." with that, he disappeared in the shadows, and could not be seen until the next day.

* * *

"Why are you following me?" muttered Kayn, annoyed by the blonde that'd been sticking around him like his own moon since they'd left the hanger.

"Just wondering if there's any room for guests here," uttered Allia, looking around, "probably not. And…" she paused, stopping at the same time. Apparently noticing that, Kayn stopped as well, forgetting how he'd just wanted to get rid of the girl just a mere second ago. "I apologize, for what I said earlier."

"Apologies accepted," said Kayn lightly, not bothering to look back at the blonde while resuming his walk, "you simply can't blame the ignorant. Guess I'll have to be the more generous here."

"Well, I was having a bad mood," argued Allia, defending herself, "and you were more or less a cause of that."

Initially, Kayn had decided that he should just quite talking with the mysterious blonde, get to his room, have a good sleep, and pretend nothing really happened. But now that she had to bring it up again, he just couldn't resist shooting a few words back. After all, she was the one that'd been keeping secrets, and he had merely been critical and suspected her intentions. "Perhaps if you'd been honest, I wouldn't have had to scold at you."

"I don't think I can trust you, a stranger," replied Allia, "not yet." She said, yawning.

"You should rest by now." Said Kayn, unwillingly being soft. As much as he disliked, perhaps even hated Allia, his sympathy simply wouldn't let him left a girl that was about his age, who had been chased by some frantic Zoids squads and should've been running from something before, unattended, not so late at night, in a place she was completely not familiar with. "Guess you wouldn't know where to; I'll show you a to your room, just don't expect it to be like your home." Said him gently, "the last thing you wanna do once you're out there tomorrow is to miss home."

"Speaking off which," uttered the blonde, sounding sleepy, "you seemed to feel something strong about your family, but you never mentioned it,"

"We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other," said Kayn, evading the girl's eyesight, "now go get some sleep."

* * *

"What were they thinking?" mumbled Wels in a whisper, sitting by his working desk. The day had been long for him, and the news he'd just got made it even longer. He waved to the messenger standing in front of him, signaling for him to go. Now he was the only one in the entire room, with nothing but a serious of bookshelves standing to the right of this desk. After giving a deep sigh, he slowly rose up, left his seat, and paced to the ridiculously broad and crystal clear window behind his desk, glancing down at the streets of Emphany, the capital of Zya.

 _Why was a squad of Zoids unable to take down one Liger, which_ _idiot_ _ordered the attack on the Hunters without his command, why could the Liger Zero be activated, who did_ _that?_ Thousands of thoughs flooded his mind. _And most importantly, is she still alive?_

Another messenger came into his room, seemingly exhausted, reporting the news that the Bounty Hunters had just been raided by Rouves.

"That is very…abnormal." That was the second-most powerful official's answer, without even bothering to look back at the stunned face of the messenger.

"You don't seem surprised!" uttered the messenger, covering his mouth soon after he realized he wasn't told to speak.

 _Because I_ _orchestrated_ _that_ _–_ _at least the first part._ Silently the tall, dark-eyed man picked his words, knowing that the messenger would only quit bothering him after he gave a satisfactory answer. "We'll keep a close eye on them. Others won't be pleased if we interfere with the Hunters."

With that, and a gesture from Wels, the messenger turned around to leave.

"Wait a minute, I think I might need more details." Said Wels, "was there anything in specific? Any details."

"Not in particular. I believe we will get more details later on."

"One more thing," demanded the official, "Don't tell the king about that, for now." He said lightly, "he has already too much to worry lately."


	4. Journeys

Griff paced slowly back to his room. It had been a bored day for him, an elite yet incredibly young pilot in one of the many expanded military forces of Rouves. To be honest, most people would say that he got his place by relations; his father had once been a famous warrior out in the fields, and was known to have been responsible for most of the area the still-expanding country now owned. That was partially true. The other part was that, not only had the teenage boy received early training, but he was also quite a genius in terms of Zoids piloting. The result of that was –he got to get special treatments.

As for him, he would really prefer getting around the arena rather than real battlegrounds. His opponents these days were either too weak, or too eager to survive that they did everything they could. At least those that fought in the arena for career could fight with honor, and that was an important belief of the dark-purple haired teen. Sometimes he would look into the mirror, and wonder if that same face –his face, with the middle-length, messy dark-purple hair and bright red eyes –was still the same person that went by his name, or just someone that took missions by his name and his face.

Right now his father was outside in the living room. If possible, he would talk to him, about how he wanted more to do something other than threatening unarmed, defenseless people. Unfortunately, his father was one of the major reasons he was in the army in the first place. Not willing to disappoint his father, Griff had decided to sacrifice a bit of his personal values in exchange. After all, someday he wouldn't be needed when whoever was in command figured out that conquering nowadays took nothing more than a fierce, intimidating team of Zoids without even having their guns loaded. Perhaps by then, he would be free to do what he wants.

But that was bugging him right now. He walked slowly out of his room again, deciding to do something else that would occupy his brain.

"Where are you going? I though you just came back yesterday." His father's voice entered his ears. Despite being known as a warlord, he was, when not in his business, surprisingly gentle, and so was his voice. That's one other reason Griff admired him. He was capable of being whoever he wanted at anytime he pleased.

"Just out for a walk," replied the purple-haired teen. Turning the knob of the door.

"Just don't overdo things."

"Lately all I needed to do was to show up," though he knew his father only asked in concern, he couldn't resist saying that. "How could that be overdoing?" with that, he walked out of the room, towards the Death Raser parked just in the hanger next to his house.

* * *

"Seriously how did you do that," asked Kayn, looking at the Lightning Saix in disbelief. Just a day ago, it was nothing different from the other mass-produced model, and now, it was covered in a maroon-red paint, with some minor dark orange-yellow strips and silver paint going on. "In just a night?"

"I had my means," answered Allia, moving into the cockpit, "aren't you supposed to be readying yourself to set off?"

"You were with me pretty much the whole time last night," mumbled Kayn, getting a simplistic, rigid backpack, apparently filled with supplies as he got on to the Liger Zero X, "did you have anyone do that for you?"

"What is done is done," uttered Allia in a taunting tone, as though she'd just forgotten it was her that needed protection, "speaking of which, where's the one that suggested our leaving?"

"He's surveying the grounds," replied Kayn, "something like a weather forecast; most people that had live here long enough knows the trick to that." Said him while securing the supplies in the small empty space behind the seat, "you won't wanna go out there without knowing from which way the sun shines. The weather, on the other hand, is quite stable, that is, if you don't count the sudden sandstorms. By the way, why aern't you carrying anything?"

"Is that how you treat your clients?" said the blonde playfully, "if that's so, I am definitely going to complain a lot, just to let you be prepared."

"Most clients aren't as annoying as you." Whispered Kayn.

"Quite chatting; it's time to go." Without either of them knowing, Elvan had already come back in his Whitz Tiger, waiting by the front gate.

Within minutes the three Zoids were at the edge of the Hunters' camp. Kayn couldn't help looking back at the place he'd spent so many years in. It was like a home to him, and right now, leaving it seemed too early. Closing his eyes with emotions suddenly flooding his mind, he remembered the reason he had been allowed to join the Hunters in the first place. He'd made himself a promise.

 _I want to be strong._

And right now he didn't feel like it was time for him to leave yet. Somehow, despite knowing that one day he'd eventually leave the Hunters and Elvan, and go on on his own, he didn't feel like now was the time; he needed more training, and more experience, none of which he could say he had any.

"It's not like you'll never return." The voice of Elvan brought him back to reality. Taking one last look at the campsite, he turned away, keeping reminding himself not to look back if he really wanted to be on his own and strong one day. Beyond the reach of his vision, the complex of warehouses diminished, growing smaller and shorter as the distance between the Zoids and the buildings increased, eventually disappearing from the horizon in the blurry air of the desert heat.

 _Somehow that_ _'_ _s not quite like him,_ thought Allia, over-hearing their conversation and Kayn's hesitation to go. _Well, let_ _'_ _s not judge someone without knowing him too soon._

"So, this woman actually goes by the name 'The Baron'?" asked Allia for the nth time in the day. "isn't she a woman?"

"Really, that's what you care about right now?" muttered Kayn, frustrated. "Do we actually have to find a woman with such a strange alias, without any clue of her whereabouts?"

* * *

The trio had been walking in the barren land for quite a few hours, and would've lost track of direction within the first few minutes if not for Elvan and Kayn's profound knowledge of navigation in the sands. Among them, Allia had been the one to talk the most, mostly complaining about their having no sense of direction and everything around being the same. "Why do we even need to find this female Baron anyway?"

Elvan, who hadn't spoken once since the departure, said, "if you really hope to settle this completely, we'll need her." That's all he would tell. Kayn had occasionally asked the veteran pilot about the 'thing to be settled', but could get nothing due to Elvan insisting that he promised Allia to keep that an absolute secret, and that he wouldn't reveal it to anyone.

"Anyone except that Baron," murmured Kayn.

"By then you can know it, too," added the experienced Hunter.

"I have to ask, too," said Allia, "why do we have to find her, and when are we going to stop and take a break?"

"She possesses a skill of…acquiring materials and turning them in her favor." Informed Elvan, "so far she's the only one I've seen capable of doing that without being caught, and so far the only one who would listen to me." He paused for a while, "as for the break, you can expect it to come at night, when we're miles away from the nearest village where you won't complain about the sand anymore. That's where we start gathering information."

"Now is just afternoon," grumbled Allia.  
"Good thing Zoids don't need to eat." Teased Kayn. "I'm just wondering, would we get anything in a town away from most others?" he knew which town the experience Hunter was talking about. There were a bunch of villages and towns in the land that separated Rouves and Zya, and the one closest to the Hunters' camp, due west to Zya, was the farthest from the others, and the most badly weathered one, though it was true that even staying there would be better than in the Hunters' camp or out in the sands.

"She's rather famous in her own career," said the older Hunter, "as long as you know where to ask, information will come in your way easily. But until then, I believe there's nothing more to be told."

"You'll get used to it," said Kayn to Allia, who seemed kind of frustrated, "acting under his command."

* * *

After several hours –what felt like an eternity for Allia –of walk, the trio had at least reached a small oasis before the sun went all the way down the horizon. Nothing in particular had run into them, fortunately. Thanks to the increased rate of attacks from Rouves, merchants had become more cautious; more scared, and wouldn't risk getting trading goods out in the sands without having much protection should they get into the way of the savage army. The more wealthy ones would transport their goods mostly with flying Zoids now, avoiding risks.

That was, however, a good thing to occur to the traveling company. Though it could've been useful if they could get more information during the way, it would've been pretty troublesome if someone should spot Kayn's Liger Zero X. After all, a squad had just come after it openly, who knows if there's someone secretly placing a warrant on the Liger, as well as its ex-pilot's heads?

As for now, they decided to rest first. Stalking in the sands in the dark night wasn't the wisest choice at the moment, and most importantly, Allia had been complaining too much that Kayn had started to get fed up, and asked Elvan to stop.

"You won't get to stay out for long." Remarked Kayn, handing a piece of white object to Allia, "the night of the desert gets insanely cold."

"Is that supposed to be some kind of food?" uttered Allia, taking the object and completely ignoring the redhead's advice on temperature. The rounded food looked a bit like bread, but felt harder and sturdier, and a bit drier as well. Allia assumed it to be some kind of terribly misshaped, downgrade version of bread or biscuits, but thought that as long as it should be made of eatable flour. Hesitantly, she took a small bite, and immediately spitted it out.

"What was that?" complied the blonde. It would've been better if the food simply tasted nothing, at least that way she could still give herself an excuse to swallow that into her stomach. Yet that tasted nothing like food for human beings at all. It was dry, which was expected, and had a taste that was like a mixture of different spices and salts mixed together in a terribly wrong way, something that its plain small didn't hint.

"It doesn't really have a name; most people call it a Bulb." Explained Kayn, taking a bit at the foully tasted food and chewing it as though it was nothing. "It is one of the most common food travelers bring during their trips –they don't rot easily, and is one of the cheapest as well. And as you've just learned, it tastes remarkably close to garbage." Said him, finishing his in a matter of seconds, "trust me, I did exactly the same as you just did the first time I tried it."

Allia stared at the Bulb, not sure if she would want to ingest this inhuman object –she just felt wrong even calling it food. She then turned her glare at Kayn, who simply said, "You'll get used to it."

"You should've warned me!" uttered the blonde.

"Everybody's got their first," replied Kayn, cracking a small smile on his face, "besides, I wanted to know how you'd react upon tasting it. I bet you're used to well-cooked food."

Allia's attention, though initially set on his words, got her some different observations. "Just now," she mumbled, taking a closer inspection at Kayn, who backed away, "did you just smile?"

It couldn't be seen clearly in the dim light of the dusk, but Kayn did brush a bit before returning his face into his usual not-so-friendly expression. "No," said him, denying his act. "I didn't."

"Speaking of which," uttered the girl, handing the Bulb back to Kayn, "you never smiled, nor did you tell me how come a child at your age came to be a part of the Bounty Hunters?"

Kayn got the remaining food into a small, rough cloth package, giving Allia a 'you sure you needn't eat more?' look as he got up, turning around to his Zoid and uttered casually, "You sure you want to know?"

"Of course!" said Allia as she got up too, going after Kayn in a few stumbles, "why would I not want to know more about the one that would be piloting my Liger for who-knows-how-long?"

"You know what? I'll tell you about that some day, when I feel like I can talk to you without a second of argue. Until then, I'd like to take some rest for now." As he finished, he swiftly climbed up to the Liger Zer5o X, ignoring shouts from the blonde with a "you'll want to be in your Zoid sooner or later" before he closed the cockpit door, completely isolating him from the surroundings. He then turned on the telecom and asked Elvan, who'd been standing-by in the Whitz Tiger for a longer time, "how long do you think we'll spend looking for this Baron?"

"It can't be said," replied the Hunter, "with luck, we might find her tomorrow; or we might spend weeks or even months looking for her."

"Is she really that important?"

"If she wasn't, I would be looking for her alone and hope nobody gets you trouble while you await at the Hunters' camp." With that, he ended the communication, signaling the other two to take some rest before the hours of walks that would come the next day.

* * *

To Griff, a walk meant taking a far trip put, usually for days. His father knew that, so that wouldn't be much of a misunderstanding. His Death Raser, nearly unused in practical battle for some months, paced rapidly across the more barren lands between towns and villages. The shortest path that connected Rouves and Zya tended to be drier, more in a desert state. A farther path that jointed the two countries, however, consisted more of trees and water sources, more towns and villages, and more war fire lately. That, nonetheless, had proved too inconvenient to walk through without particular purpose, which was what Griff was doing exactly.

Though not being one of the fastest Zoids, the Raser was still an agile one, and that left its pilot less time thinking about where to go. Turning back would be impossible; that would only left him in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a night. He had some destinations in mind, yet could never decide where to drop by. A couple of towns recently conquered by his country wouldn't love his presence, and he had no such intention to disturb its already disturbed residence; the few that had been conquered for long, nevertheless, were farther away, and he didn't like the atmosphere there either. He believed that even as rulers, a code of conduct should be applied at treating the ones you rule, something the country he served lacked.

That left him no choice but to go farther east towards where more independent towns stood. Among one of them, he decided to go to Mectro, the one that was particularly far away from the others, and should be less disturbing.

The town the trio entered was name Mectro, not particular an odd nami

* * *

ng fashion from what Kayn was used to. It lay on the shortest path straight between Rouves and Zya, yet was never a target for either one of them, seeing that its well known amount of traders from across the world prevented either countries to take it over for itself and offending the rest of the world.

Entry into the town, however, proved to be picky beyond expectations. The sentry there explained that there had been sights of Matrix Dragons moving around recently. Worse, those were with faction symbols –the symbol of the long notorious Rouves. Everybody found it unbelievable –everybody except the people native to that town, which were mostly its higher ranked officials. Such a sight wasn't only bad news to the town, but to traders as well. Taxes and tariffs had increased, resulting in fewer and fewer traders to go around here.

That, however, was good news to Elvan. People that could afford such expenses tend to carry with them information –information the Hunter might need –and goods, lots of valuable goods, which attract people that makes a living out of obtaining materials.

"Just do as he says," Kayn reminded Allia, who seemed to be ready to engage in a verbal combat with the sentry. So far as he knew, the blonde had come from quite a wealthy family, and might have been spoiled due to that, but she was different. Instead of asking unreasonably, she simply didn't seem to know things –things that even the most uneducated person should know for granted.

"Why in thunder can only one of us pilot a Zoid in? What happen to the remaining two?" muttered the blonde, refusing to leave her ride behind. Elvan had suggested that, since someone was clearly targeting the Liger Zero X, it should be left behind, covered, with its pilot. The main objection from Allia was that, she didn't trust Kayn, and insisted that he would leave without a word if only he was behind.

"To be honest, I don't wanna stay behind, either," mumbled Kayn as he piloted the Liger backwards, towards somewhere more hidden, less observable, "wouldn't want you to bring much trouble to Elvan." Even if he said so, he was already out of the other two's sight, talking to them merely through the telecom.

"Now, do as I say. People around here don't tend to get nice." Said Elvan, driving into the town with Allia following behind, apparently hesitating.

"Don't worry, I can take better care of _your_ Zoid better than you did," reassured Kayn, in a mocking tone.

* * *

Staying behind had seemed to be the rational choice back then, but right now, it was getting to the redhead's nerves, having nothing to do. Normally when bored, he would look out at the desert, staring at the sands without doing anything else like an idiot, observing any creatures, currents of wind, possible hints of weather change. That was how he'd learned to be observable, though the true art of it was yet to be mastered. He could already tell whether a sand storm was to come or a faraway image of oasis was real or just a mirage.

But this time, it was different. Parking his Zoid right next to a town's walls proved to be not only boring, but irritating as well. He stared at the scratched, rusted walls for hours –at least that's how long he though he'd been doing so –and could get nothing from it.

 _I wonder if she_ _'_ _d gotten herself_ _scolded_ _ten times already._ That's all the funny bits he could get himself to think, until suddenly a glimpse at the rocks farther away caught his attention. It was just a light glimmer, could've been anything –a drop of water, which wasn't likely; a traveling company coming by? No, that route was too rough for Zoids like Gustav. It had to be something else.

 _I_ _was never told that_ _I_ _couldn_ _'_ _t wander off a moment._ Thought him as he piloted the Liger closer towards the glimmer. There, from far away, he could see what he wanted to see the least –a Matrix Dragon, along with a few Leoblaze, all wearing the same Rouves symbol. For a moment, he wanted to leave them along. Maybe they were just someone there, sightseeing without means of aggression. After all, nobody, not even Rouves, would want to get Mextro for their own. But then, remembering something that happened long ago, he decided that at least he had to keep an eye on them. What if they were planning something evil, something that would make the people there suffer? He couldn't just stand by and watch them do it, not this time.

With that in mind, he drove closer to the potentially threatening Zoids.


	5. First encounter

Allia mostly followed Elvan wherever he went. However thirsty she was towards taking charge, she couldn't handle a thing in a place she had completely no idea with. The Hunter mostly went through street markets, without even bothering to ask the questions. It would seem odd at first, but Allia soon noticed that, people around tended to talk loudly, and as much as she hated it, it was useful.

There weren't much conversation between the young girl and the Hunter. Though he didn't always put on his grim face, he just felt terrible to her, like she would die trying to talk to him. Maybe that's the kind of menace a veteran could put in the surrounding atmosphere, or maybe it was the menace that created the veteran?

"So far, we haven't got much," said Elvan as a stationary report, "I might need to get into some stores soon –ones that don't get nice with strangers." His eyes fixed on Allia's, "don't get lost."

"I'm not going anywhere," replied the blonde, "but do we have to do it everywhere? I mean, that seems kind of inefficient."

"That's a better way than just sitting around and wait for her to come walking by." Said Elvan, turning around and walking into a narrow street, "follow suit."

The street was –as opposed to the prospered, bustle-and-hustle market –remarkably quiet. The floor was littered with paper scraps and shards of glasses; the walls were covered in dust and grease, though not the worst kind. There were practically no one besides the two, and all they could see were doors –numerous wooden doors with uniform banners.

"Are we going to find anything around here?" asked the blonde, slightly flinching. The place was getting to her nerves.

"It is around here that we can find the most," replied Elvan, in a light, plain whisper, "though I have to warn you, never to come to these places alone."

They were, however, unable to visit the stores around. A loud bang came from about their west, catching both their attention. For the moment, the woman Baron was forgotten.

"What's that?" whispered Allia.

"That," said Elvan, scanning his surroundings, and then turning to walk out of the street, towards where they left their Zoids, "is the sound of troubles."

* * *

Kayn kept the Liger Zero X well hidden in a safe distance away from the Matrix Dragon. There was no doubt the Dragon was a Zoid from Rouves. He had to make sure that they weren't trying anything aggressive, say, attacking a trade town to piss other countries off. Though unlikely, he followed suit behind, having to ensure that no casualties should be there.

Unknown to him, the squad was really not after the town –If they were, they would probably had sent something more than two Leoblaze and a Matrix Dragon. The truth was, they were here on an order that practically didn't exist –to go after a particularly customized black Liger. Even the pilots thought it unbelievable, but they were soldiers, who'd taken an oath to serve their country, and following orders was the way to do so.

One of the Leoblaze, being the nearest one to the Liger Zero X, spotted the edge of one of the many blade-like decorations of the Liger's head, and notified its team.

To Kayn, the Rouves were simply there again to occupy some land. Even when the Leoblaze charged at him, he only expected it to be because of his potential threat he posted with a large-scale Zoid. Convinced that they were the bad guys, and determined not to let what had happened to him happen to others, he took the squad as his enemy, engaging in combat without even notifying Elvan.

The Leoblaze were weak opponents to be taken care of. A simple drift and a sideswipe with the stun blades got one of the small, red lion-like Zoids down effortlessly before it even stood a chance to counteract. The other, apparently more skillful, dodged several of the Liger's strikes with wild leaps, even getting onto the back of the black Liger, ready to smash it with its simplistic yet practical smash claws.

Kayn, unwilling to get defeated so soon, shook the Liger side to side, making it run wild with furious drifts, shaking the Leoblaze off to its left. The sand acted not only as a cushion for the Leoblaze, but also an obstacle for it to get up. The Leoblaze could do nothing but waving its limbs desperately with its back facing the ground. Within a second, the Liger Zero X was already standing by the Leoblaze, firing the shock cannons at the unfortunate Zoid before a blast from the Matrix Dragon hit the black Liger.

"What is it now?" mumbled Kayn as he checked the monitors that showed the red dragon-like Zoid, though he'd never actually seen what a dragon was like. In theory, there was no way he could fight it alone. It was well known that a single Matrix Dragon could decimate a city. Nevertheless, Kayn was determined not to let the Dragon reach the town, not knowing by either side that it was a great misunderstanding. With that in mind, the Liger Zero X charged at the Matrix Dragon.

* * *

It took him a whole night to go through even the shortest route to Mectro. Still, Griff wasn't all that tired –the way he wanted to be. The trip served its purpose of distracting the pilot poorly, and even without a night's sleep, he was still fully functional. In other words, he didn't feel the difference between sitting in a Zoid traveling a whole night and having a comfortable sleep.

Flickers nearby caught his attention. Zooming in the cameras, he could see two Zoids battling each other. That wasn't something uncommon in these areas. Every once in a while, barbaric pilots would settle conflicts in this way, battling until one's Zoid couldn't go on anymore or one surrenders. The participants in this time, however, were what alerted the purple-haired teen. One of them was a Matrix Dragon, something you don't see often in wild lands. Furthermore, it was the rarely-seem red-colored type instead of the usual blue, something that indicated this belonged to the ones used by the Rouves army.

The question was: why would a military Zoid be battling some random Liger type near a town, where little conflicts were known to exist? Griff first eliminated the possibility that the Matrix Dragon was an official force sent to occupy Mectro, which was known to be one of the few taboo places for any country to go for. (And he was surprisingly having a correct guess for this) But then what could the Dragon be doing here, and why was a Liger fighting it?

While he was thinking, the images captured by the cameras kept his eyes occupied as well. Whoever controlled the Liger Zero X had to be skilled. The Liger Zero jumped left and right as the Matrix Dragon breathed fire with its flamethrower embedded inside its mouth cavity. The tower of orange-red flame roamed from side to side as the Dragon turned and chased the Liger. The fire never reached the Liger, however, as the black Zoid took a risky leap, straight toward the still attacking Matrix Dragon. The Liger Zero X went over its head, extended its two front limbs and clawed the wings of the Dragon, ripping them off the torso of the Dragon before kicking it off balance.

It immediately occurred to Griff that the Liger Zero was the side on offense, and the Matrix Dragon was self-defending. As such, though he probably wouldn't know the pilot of the Dragon or why it was here in the first place, the first priority was to make sure that the Dragon could get away safely –at least to him. Before even contacting the pilot of the Matrix Dragon, he had his Death Raser charged forward as the Liger Zero, which took a sharp turn after it'd landed from its previous attack and leapt towards the Matrix Dragon.

Once they were close enough, the Raser swung its body swiftly; its heavily armed tail smashed right in the face of the Liger, sending it flying backwards a few feet, smashing a pile of boulders into pieces. Despite that, the black Liger managed to get up, and was staring at the Death Raser with a roar.

Though not a specific commander or higher class officials, Griff and his Death Raser was quite famous among the soldiers for his skills and of course, his father's reputation. The Matrix Dragon's pilot didn't even bother explaining anything as the Dragon backed off, leaving the battle solely to the Death Raser without second thoughts. It was known among the soldiers that Griff was quite a gentle person, something that would get someone in the same placed laughed at, but it was also true that in battle, the almost under-aged pilot could be more fierce than anybody else of his position.

"So, let's see what this mysterious attacker is like," mumbled the teenage pilot as he had the therizinosaurus-like Zoid charged forward, its long, razor-sharp claws ready to strike. Apparently taking the Raser as an enemy, the Liger Zero stumbled a few steps backward first, but than charged full speed at the crimson-armored Zoid, extending its two stun blades.

For a moment, it seemed to Kayn that he was having an upper hand fighting the Matrix Dragon, which was a rare occasion and a surprise even to him. If it hadn't been his tricks to get the Dragon distracted and frustrated, he might not have been able to last that long. That was until a certain crimson armored, dinosaurs-like Zoid that had four weird, glowing lightning-shaped blades mounted on its back came out from nowhere and knocked the Liger Zero aside.

"Is that one of them, too?" mumbled Kayn as he got the Liger balanced again. By the time he did that, the Death Raser was already rushing towards the Liger with its forearms straightened, its long, sickle-like claws extended. Not seeing any choice, the redhead first made his Zoid walk a few steps backwards, and then charged forward as well, accelerating.

The claws of the Raser and the blade of the first collided. The red, therizinosaurus-like Zoid wasn't using its claws to grab onto the blade, however. Instead the edge of the claws just touched the blade, also on its edge. To whoever watching the fight, it would seem that there were forces being applied to either Zoids, both endeavoring to push forward while they were just barely keeping their stance.

The black Liger was the first one to show a sign of losing, being forced backwards step-by-step. In vain, Kayn tried to push the controls harder, or press the buttons more rapidly, see if that could get him any chance to just escape the competition of strength. That, as expected, didn't do much good. Desperate, Kayn had the Liger stumbling backwards, first letting it get free of the claws of the Death Raser. The Liger than took a great leap backwards, a bit tilted to the right, getting itself some distance from the dino.

"Trying to run?" speculated Griff. The Death Raser matched forward, approaching the Liger in a slow pace. Normally, he would just let his opponents go if they chose to surrender. That, however, wasn't the case this time; the pilot of the Liger was clearly rearranging the odds of the fight to get himself the upper hand. He couldn't allow that to happen, but he didn't like not giving his opponent a chance, either. That's one of the main weaknesses of Griff –he didn't see others as enemies; he saw them as opponents. That's why he didn't immediately shoot the Liger, nor did he wait to let it get on. The Death Raser approached its opponent slowly, just enough that right after the Liger got up, they would be at the best distance to start a fight again.

The pilot of the Matrix Dragon, on the other hand, did nothing to help. It was well known that getting into a fight between Griff and someone else meant nothing but offending the pilot, and though that would result in nothing too serious, why bother fighting yourself when someone else was doing it for you?

The Liger Zero X got up. Kayn sensed something wrong –awfully wrong. He should've been finished by now, yet there his enemy was, standing in front of the Liger, not too close that it could give it a fatal blow, and not too far away that the Liger could run away in time. It occurred to him clearly that whoever was piloting the Death Raser was challenging him to a battle, not the kind of brutal ripping-off-parts in real life. While he was busy considering that, his opponent was already on the move. The Death Raser rushed at the Liger, and then took a sharp turn, smashing its tail against the giant head of the Liger. With some luck and experience this time, Kayn was able to stable the Liger while it was airborne, and landed in a less vulnerable position. But his foe wasn't just playing. By the time the redhead could turn his attention on the Raser again, it was already right in front of the Liger with its hands raised up high, ready to make a slash.

Even to himself, it was surprising that the Liger managed to take a leap to the side before the claws of the Death Raser dropped. The Liger was fine excluding a some problem in balancing itself, but the rocks that had once been behind it wasn't; right after the moment the crimson Zoid struck, the rocks were already pieces, with perfectly smooth edges that they looked more like they were made in a factory rather being cut in a battle.

"That's something," muttered Griff, complementing the Liger's agile move.

Kayn made a move first, desperate to at least get the lead of the combat rather than just dodging strikes. The Liger Zero X ran, straight towards the dinosaur. And then, just before the they could reach each other's attack range, the black Zoid drifted around as the Raser slashed again, successfully evading the strike and getting a free, defenseless spot of the bright red Zoid. The Liger Zero then charged forward, extending its forelimbs, ready to crush the side of the Raser.

But it never could. Just moments before the contact, Griff got the Raser back to normal, and just spotted the attack. It was too late to run away, and he never had that thought in the first place. Instead of dodging the strike, he turned on the power for the plasma blades on the back of his Zoid, and then, almost impossibly, he had the Death Raser crouched forward, and then turning to the direction of where the Liger Zero was coming.

"What?" Kayn couldn't help but let the utter escape from his lips. Being airborne, there was no way the Liger could get away without damage, but he was determined to minimize it. Taking the risk, he fired the shock cannons that were mounted on the chest of his Zoid. The recoil of the fire did a little to tilt the Liger's track, but wasn't enough to prevent it from being sliced into two halves.

The cannon fire did a little effect on the Raser as well, sending it stumble a few steps aside, but that, too, couldn't change the fate of the doomed Liger, not yet.

In a sudden, a red blur came flustering by, and the next moment, the Liger Zero X was gone.

"What happened?" Though in different Zoids and not currently communicating, the two pilots uttered in amazement simultaneously.

In just a moment, all the attention of the Zoid pilots shifted to a higher slope, where a dark red, cheeta-like Zoid stood beside a severely damaged Liger Zero X, which had its head's left side being slashed at, leaving a giant 'scar' that exposed some of its electronics inside. The Lightning Saix was carrying the Liger, but the Liger got on to its feet, standing despite the damage.

"Two against one?" the Death Raser turned at the two Zoids and roared, giving a battle-readied pose. The two Zoids, on the other hand, were in no mood to prolong the fight. Within just a second, a serious of bullets came crushing at the sands just inches in front of the Raser, forcing it to back off. To its right, a white, tiger-type Zoid came dashing by.

"I'll explain later, but we have to get out of here first," Allia informed Kayn, who seemed still too dizzy from the shaking of the battle that he hadn't been able to focus sharply.

"So it's three against one," mumbled Griff. Though a typical pilot should be considering to retreat by now, the only thing the teen did was to think of a strategy to take all the three at once. He couldn't help but give a smirk at the circumstance.

The Matrix Dragon, on the other hand, had a rather usual pilot, and he sensed danger. Though he hadn't wanted to interrupt the fight between the Raser and the Liger, he couldn't stand and watch the Raser, as well as himself, being defeated as well, so it aimed its flamethrower at the three Zoids, ready to fire.

Before it could act, however, the Whitz Tiger fired another serious of bullets as well, both at the Raser and at the Dragon. For a moment it would seem like that the Tiger was having a poor job aiming, it was actually aiming precisely at the sand in front of the two Zoids, creating a visual barricade of sand that blocked the sight of the Whitz Tiger and the other two Zoids completely. By the time the sand faded, the three were already gone.

There was a moment of frustration surging through the veins of Griff, but than he felt something more. For almost an eternity had he not had such a fight that would excite him, and he liked it. He looked at the footprints left by the Zoids, with no intention to chase at all. _I_ _'_ _ll let you go, for now._ Thought him, relieving himself from the tension of the battle. _But the next time we meet, I_ _'_ _m not going to._ And then he remembered something as well, turning on the telecom, he inquired the pilot of the Matrix Dragon, with a slightly demanding tone unknown to him, "May I know what happened here, sir?"

* * *

 _That was close._ That's something Kayn would've said, but he didn't feel like it. He'd just narrowly escaped certain death, and that –though he didn't like to admit –was scaring the hell out of him, so much that he wasn't in the mood of even arguing back when Allia spoke at all. Right now, all he could do was to stare at the monitors while letting his Zoid walk in an automatic pace.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Allia. As much as everyone hated to admit, they could officially be said to be chased, and that made them impossible to turn back to Mectro. "At least, tell me we're headed somewhere."

"It cannot be said for now," replied Elvan. He didn't need a map to craft a route; he already had everything stored in his head. The real problem was; how to get away undisturbed for even just a day and get the Liger repaired. So far, he could only name a few places like to have all the requirements, and all those places were too faraway. "We look for the closest city, town, or even just village," he gave the direction.


	6. Starting over

"So, how did you find me?" asked Kayn, sitting next to a fire after the group had gone far enough such that they could be sure nobody was following them. Night had already fallen, and sooner, they'd have to get torest soon. It was the first time he spoke after the fight.

"Everybody could," said Allia, partially teasing the boy, "who couldn't have heard that noise? It was just a matter of who got there first."

"And I am surprised that you didn't run," said Elvan coldly. It would've been fine to Kayn if the Hunter was staring at him, but instead, he was simply looking at something random, which scared him more, "when you know that the Liger Zero X is being hunted and battling might get it exposed."

"They came to me first!" replied Kayn. He'd considered shouting, but that didn't seem the right thing to do at the moment, "and I thought, if I could get them occupied, they would leave Mectro alone."

"They would," said Elvan in a low whisper, so low that Kayn could just make out the words. Allia, sitting on the side and watching, dare not interrupt their conversation. If someone like Kayn could be lectured without arguing back, the situation was probably a pretty serious one, and she didn't want to be any part of that.

"They always leave that town alone." Said the experienced Hunter, sighing, "and it was your job to hide."

"But…" endeavoring to contain his temper, Kayn let one of the few words that should never be said in a defense slip out of his lips. Before he knew it, his mouth was already shut, and that, however, didn't help much. In spite of the darkness, he could clearly see the beady eyes of Elvan glimmering with resentment. He knew he was in no place to talk, and he tried not to, but failed.

"No 'but'," said Elvan lightly, so lightly that it made him even scarier than yelling out loud. He turned slowly around and walked to his Zoid, saying, "tomorrow, we're headed for Prym." After he said that, his shape vanished in the dark.

Kayn stared at the place where the Hunter once stood, his critical voice still bouncing in his skull. Too focus on his words that the redhead didn't even realize Allia had come to his side, looking at him with a curious expression, as if examining his features. The blonde's voice brought him back to reality.

"Where's Prym?"

"What the…" uttered Kayn, shocked. He turned around to see Allia by his side, her face only a few inches away from his. The dim fire in the night made her face look hollow, as though it was a face that belonged to some other animals rather than that of a human being, glowing from the bottom and casting a great shadow that covered the entire lean, tiny torso of Allia, so the boy uttered a light scream as he backed off, calming himself. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I thought you'd have noticed," said Allia playfully, "Back to my question, where is Prym?"

"It's…it's a village, near the coast, somewhere southwest from here." Answered Kayn.

Effortlessly Allia could tell that he wasn't paying attention at all; his words were sloppy and could hardly be heard, and he wasn't looking at her at all, just staring at the sandy ground. "What's wrong with you?" asked the blonde, leaning closer, "you don't seem…yourself."

"I shouldn't be surprised," said Kayn slowly and lightly, "that you should have no experience of being scolded at at all?" he returned his gaze on the blonde. Somehow, even knowing that she came from a rather wealthy family and have been performing rather spoiled, she didn't seem like that right now. She sounded just like someone who simply wanted to help, and that, somehow, made her less dislikable.

"Can you keep secrets?" he asked.

"About that," replied Allia, searching in her mind to find a word that could best represent her ability at doing that, "you can't image how good I am at keeping secrets," she answered with a grin, though nobody could really see that. "Why the question? Think you can finally trust me with you secrets?"

Kayn hesitated for a moment. She had a point; he'd just known her for least than a week, and she didn't seem like someone he could share his feelings with. Still, she'd performed an incredible strength at keeping secrets, having kept the redhead in the fog for days and haven't shown a sign of letting lose. If there were someone to talk with, it'd be her, and he felt like he needed to talk to someone. Hesitantly, he said, "Can you promise that you can keep your mouth shut about this, no matter who asks you?"

Allia nodded.

"Well, to start things with," Kayn began, "I first joined the Hunters when I was seven; well, not officially, but I was there,"

"What?" uttered the blonde, "why would you be there that young?"

"Don't ask," said Kayn, a bit annoyed, "just listen until I finish."

"Ok.'

"As I was saying, I got there when I was that young, and," said Kayn in a decreasing volume, "I think you can image how a little kid would be treated at that kind of place. It was quite a hard time. And trust me, it's not easy even to just remember that. And during that time, Elvan was the one that helped me get through that time."

"He would do that?" uttered Allia before she realized she talked, "sorry, that wouldn't happen again."

"You know, I actually expected you to ask," said Kayn, "he took care of me because I followed him to the Hunters." By the look of Allia's face, the redhead could easily tell that she was probably having tones of questions flooding her mind and was, observably, trying her best to keep her mouth shut despite her eyes that'd already told the questions. Seeing that, the redhead said, shrugging his shoulders. "You can ask, but just one question."

Without considering much, the girl questioned, "How was it like to live with him?"

"I don't actually live with him," declared Kayn, "but, well, being tutored by him was like…I don't know, having a babysitter that lets you do whatever you want, but than punishes you for what you did wrong…I guess that's how it was."

"And why is that a secret?"

Kayn stood up, turned to his Zoid, and said, "I thought you here, out of the three of us, knew best why something has to be a secret." He continued as he walked away, extinguishing the fire with a little water, "Because I don't people to know about it."

"Then why tell me?" asked the blonde, but he was already gone, as was the fire. Being left in the complete darkness alone, the blonde got irritated, and shouted, "How am I supposed to find my way now?" But in the wilderness, nothing came to her call, not even the echo of her own voice. Frustrated, she started walking, but was tipped over by a boulder nearby. As she got up, her mouth was full of words, and she once away tried her way to her Zoid before the night turned to the coldest.

* * *

It would've taken them days had they been traveling on foot. Fortunately, one step of a Zoid could replace about a hundred of that of a human, and the Zoids of the group were currently charging at full speed, reducing the multiple-day trip into a one day trip, and by estimation, they calculated that they would reach the fishing village Prym by twilight, not too bad a time.

"I still don't see any point in going there," commented Allia, "why are we headed for a fishing village for repair? Do they even use Zoids?"

"No idea," added Kayn, "I've never been there before. And, the damage on Liger Zero X isn't all that severe, I guess it can hold on for a couple more days."

"But that doesn't explain why we'd go for a primitive village."

"Elvan has his plans," said Kayn, "you just have to stick to it,"

"Whatever," mumbled the blonde, keeping her eye on the monitors. The group had reached the boundary between the sands and the green and, as stated by Elvan, was approaching the village that lied behind a small forest in which wild Zoids were known to inhibit inside. It was nothing in particular to be afraid of, though. Wild Zoids were like wild animals, only bigger, and thus could cause more damage. But since they weren't after anything –food, territory, etc –they could mostly be ignored as long as nobody made them feel offended and threatened.

That knowledge, however, wasn't what surprised the blonde as she drove her Lightning Saix across the woods. Though not visible at first, she could see something that seemed like junk on the ground –giant junks that looked nothing natural, something that shouldn't happen in a forest. Kayn first accounted that for wild Zoids fighting and tearing each other apart. It later became clear that those were, those correctly guessed as parts, no ordinary parts at all. Those were something that had faction symbols on and, needless to ask, Allia could very accurately tell whose Zoids were those.

"They've come to even somewhere like here?" uttered Allia, "I thought they only go after something that worth more, like, someplace that actually has trading value."

"It actually makes sense for someone to try to take control over coastal villages," explained Kayn, "lots of resources, good for local production, if all they want is economic development."

There were more to the remains that made them unusual. They scattered along the forest in quite a regular format, like someone had cleaned those up after the Zoids turned into nothing more than scrap metal, and made none of them block the main path that directly connected the village and the other areas. The remains themselves looked odd enough on their own, though, exhibiting no signs of any kind of battle damage –no scratches, no bullet holes, not even faded paint. They just lay there, as though they were not functional because they had fallen ill, which was impossible for mechanical beings like Zoids.

"Perhaps that's the way pilots get new Zoids," joked Allia as she examined the Zoids with a close-up camera, "they just have to throw them here and say they lost their Zoids in battle and demand to get new ones."

"I don't think that's possible," uttered Kayn, "those here seem quite new to me, unless you're saying that the pilots want their Zoids to be perfectly shinny and unused. You have to remember, they're not collectors."

"That's enough chat for now," said Elvan, informing the other two that they'd almost reached their destination. The trip was shorter than expected, and by now, it was only afternoon, the time when the sun shone the brightest and hottest. The first thing they could see when they got through the forest was the overly strong sunlight illuminating their surroundings, making it so hard to see that for a moment everything was just like a cloud of whiteness, nothing more. When their eyes got more adapted to the sunlight, the shapes of objects could be seen clearly. In front of them were a few rocks, stacked up together in a natural way that formed something like a barricade around the forest, about some tens meters tall. Over the barricade, there lay a paint patch of blueness, not like the kind of blue on the armor of the Liger Zero X, but more vibrant in natural, with a little green mixed between waves.

"So that's where we need to go," muttered Allia, "hope they'll be nicer."

"I have to stay behind, right?" asked Kanye, already stopping.

"No," said Elvan, "we're all going."

* * *

Being one of the more undeveloped villages, entering Prym would require no such tedious procedures like when they were going through the entrance of more developed towns like Mectro. Most people there thought of them as merchants, and, given the perfect disguise, they took on the role naturally and pretended to be here for business, hoping to avoid as much trouble getting help as possible.

Along the way, all Kayn could see were small, rounded buildings that were most likely made of wood scattering unevenly throughout the undisturbed growth of wild grass, on which a number of fields lied –just as he'd imagined. Connecting the edge of the village and the opening of the sea was a wide, sandy beach, glistering with the bright sunlight shining directly onto it with waves of greenish-blue water washing the shore constantly and continuously, causing the glisters to shift from time to time like stars did in the middle of a cloudless night.

There was one thing in particular that caught the redhead's attention. He couldn't be sure if the others noticed that as well, but somewhere between the rock barricade and a couple of trees, hidden beyond his vision, he thought he might have seen something abnormal, something too artificial to be trees –about two to three pillars that showed a pitch black color with a line of light red at the tips of the pillars. Despite that, he found it impractical to worry about potential threats, given the pile of Rouves Zoids' bodies outside, nothing could be likely to be able to reach this place with improper intentions, right?

As he was thinking about that, the other two had already gotten way in front of him, and had left their Zoids at the side of the entrance of the village, seeing that the Zoids were too large to fit in. it was only after a moment or two and some friendly reminder from Allia that Kayn remembered he'd fallen behind, and did the same quickly.

"Now we've arrived at Prym, what's next?" asked Allia. She expected to hear responses from Elvan to explain his entire plan and, oddly, some responses –or rather, she'd call complaints –from Kayn as well. To her disappointment, none of the two happened. Instead, Elvan just started to walk into the village's main path with Kayn following, known of whom saying a word as though they'd already gone through the scheme.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" demanded the blonde again; she got no answers again.

She was, nonetheless, not the only one in the dark corner. Kayn, who appeared calm, wasn't sure what to do next as well. All he knew was that Elvan wanted to find somewhere where they wouldn't be disturbed to get the plans reconsidered and look for the next move. And he wasn't quite sure if this place could be where he'd stay for the next couple of days; the lower-than-average tech and lifestyle in Prym was –as tolerating as he wanted to be –starting to make him uneasy, like he was in somewhere he wouldn't be even in dreams.

After a short while the group stopped, with Elvan meeting with a seemingly significant man that had normal features –the kinds that left no impressions even to someone as observant as Kayn. The two seemed to know each other, as proved by their fluent conversation that didn't seem like something that would happen between strangers. Elvan and the man exchanged a few lines in a low volume, so the content couldn't be known. Having nothing to do, Kayn scanned his surroundings. The village was as typical as he'd imagined –villagers hard at work at simple, primary production, some fishing by the coast while others busy managing something that looked like corn fields, with kids that looked even younger helping out the adults while those too young to do anything playing around. Too concentrated on the scene was he that he failed to notice someone behind him was watching with curious-filled eyes.

"Hey!' said a voice from behind, alerting both Kayn and Allia. They turned to see a kid –roughly about their age –waving at them while half of his body was in the water and his free arm lying on the moist, dark brown sand of the beach. His hair was blue, short, but thickly layered, styled messily, with one single strand of hair curling upwards; his eyes were light blue, and he wore a necklace composed of a thin rope and a complete, rounded seashell. He smiled a the two and said, "strangers, not too common around here."

Allia turned around, took a step closer, probably wanting to give some reply, before the man in conversation with Elvan yelled at the kid, "none of your business here, Tarine!"

The kid glanced at the man, frowned and shrugged his shoulders before he dove back into the water.

About the same time, Elvan finished his conversation with the strange man. He gestured for the man to leave before he turned to Kayn and Allia and said, "They'll have the Liger Zero X repaired shortly. In the meantime, I have some important business to deal with with the locals. You two can explore around here and meet me here at evening." With that said, he walked away with the man, leaving the two behind.

* * *

Things hadn't been quiet in Zya, not recently.

Ever since the legally just-adult king took over the place as the ruler and leader of the country, voices started to fill the streets and there had been more opposition that ever, before Allen even made anything bad happened. He simply did what he needed to do, which was already hard enough even with the help of Wels, who was the main cause of the potential riots. People –skeptical or not –had been saying that the man Wels should not be trusted despite their lack of proof and the fact that he'd helped keep the country operational while others –those less radical –had been doubting Allen's ability for letting virtually everything for Wels to decide. In other words, to the crowds, regardless of their choices of criticism, all considered Allen as nothing more than a kid with tidily styled blonde hair and pale green eyes, who happened to be wearing clown on his head.

And that's why he was sitting in his office, feeling powerless and anxious as wave after wave of officials came by and presented to him mountains of documents. He knew he wasn't made for the position, and yet he couldn't simply give it to someone else as though it was nothing more than a normal occupation. Sometimes he wondered how his father could handle his people, which looked more like a bunch of mobs right now, and keep up with a normal life. Maybe that's why he'd passed away at such a young age.

He stood up, viewing the streets of the capital, Emphany. The people seemed to be practicing their lives just as usual, though that was just a fraction of reality he could see from the main political building. Somewhere, outside, maybe even inside the capital, there was going to be a riot, or even a rebellion if things really went too terribly wrong. He could see it coming, with or without the help of Wels.

And if that's the case, why even bother when someone wiser than you could handle your job better than you? If things were to go wrong, why don't accept help and try to make it better than the worst? Just when he was thinking about that, the one person he really wished to see knocked on the door, and Allen politely let him in.

"I was informed that a moderate-scaled demonstration had taken place a few hours ago, in this very capital, your majesty." Reported the man, his voice light and calm, so light that it sounded more or less threatening.

"It almost seems to me that the reports don't matter anymore," replied Allen. He didn't want to act like he doubted himself, but that's the fact. And he wasn't a good actor, nor did he want to be. Sometimes when people addressed him as "your majesty", he would even question if he deserved that title, if he had been that entire majestic, he wouldn't have had such troubles. He knew his people hated him, probably comparing him to his late father. That's fine, because he knew what the people needed –they didn't want a leader; they wanted a spiritual support, something the previous king had successfully pulled off, something he couldn't do. But right now, he had something else to care for other than his own reputation.

"What do you suggest me do?"

"In times like this, certain military action might be required," answered Wels in a humble tone.

Allen considered the option, shook his head slightly, and said, "these are people, mine or not. I don't want casualties," he turned around so he wasn't facing Wels, and sighed, "but they can't be allowed to keep on like that. Laws have to be carried out. I want minimum violence." He said as he turned back, looking simply tired, "I'm leaving this to your charge."

"As you requested, your majesty," answered Wels with a bow. His face was expressionless, yet he was smirking inside as he left the office.


	7. Never-ending troubles

Kayn had been staring at the Liger Zero X as people –villagers he never thought knew mechanical knowledge –was busy fixing the giant scratch on the head of his unfortunate Zoid, damaged because of his carelessness. The repairmen lifted materials and climbed on and off the Zoid he called his. Somehow he hadn't forgotten the Liger Zero wouldn't be his in any case –it either belonged to the client that obviously didn't exist, or would eventually be returned to Allia.

Despite that thought, he didn't do anything. He was somehow glad that he hadn't recommended using the Liger as bait and let whoever want it destroyed see it torn into pieces, and by then everything would be fine, instead of having to leave the Hunters' compound.

"You've been doing that for hours by now." Allia's voice came from behind; it came in so suddenly that the redhead sprung up upon hearing it, and turned his head to see the blonde's face, inches away from his. "You never thought of doing something else? Something more meaningful?"

"I just don't feel like it," he replied, returning to his lying pose, "If you want to do something, you're welcome to do it on your own. Otherwise, leave me alone."

Allia looked into his face from directly above; her eyes opening wide with curiosity as though examining the redhead, and then suddenly a giggle appeared on her face.

"What?"

"You're still troubled by Elvan scolding at you, aren't you?"

"No!" said Kayn in a quick utter, so quick that he seemed to have not thought of what to say, as opposed to how Allia had imagined him hesitating in reply. "I just…don't feel like doing anything around here."

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Allia, more like a comment, "Don't tell me you don't go near the beach because you're scared of water." She said that just to make a joke, but out of whatever reason she got the situation right and chanced to see Kayn's face having a patch of redness.

Kayn stood up and turned around, uttering lightly, "It's not like that!"

"So I actually made the correct guess?" asked Allia, grinning from both astonishment and satisfaction.

"I'm just more used to living on dry land." Said Kayn, "I've been living in that kind of environment for

years!" he said as he walked slowly away. "It's about time we meet up with Elvan."

Even when they were reunited near the coast, things weren't going as smoothly as Kayn had expected. Elvan had already been waiting for them before the two got to there, and gave them the same emotionless look when they arrived. With simple instructions, which mainly was about following him. Soon they got to a rather isolated house standing right on the edge of the tides.

The house was a wooden one, with a cylindrical body that looked around two floors high and a dome-shaped top. To the left of the main entrance of the house was a platform, also made of wood, which extended someway out to the beach and connected the house to the tides.

"Allia, you can come with me," instructed Elvan in his usual, plain tone. Though he didn't show it, Kayn recalled the glare of the old man for a second, and stood still, staring at the ground. Before the two walk into the house, where, via the open door, Kayn could make out at least a man was inside, he approached Elvan and asked, "why am I always kept out? Did I do anything wrong lately?"

"No, you didn't," replied Elvan. This time his voice was heavier, "that's why you have to be kept out, for now."

* * *

"To be honest, I am, too, tired of the secrecy." Said Allia as she walked into the house. The candle light there was dim, just enough so that people inside could see what they needed to see. Other than that, the house was a pretty plain one, with simple furniture and no decorations at all. "Even a man who I don't know is better to trust than Kayn?"

Elvan didn't answer her, at least not immediately. After the two got into the living room and settled down, he said, "I didn't leave him behind because I didn't trust him."

Most of the time, Allia would keep on asking, but that didn't seem to work on Elvan. The man inside the house was the same one Elvan'd seen earlier this day, and judging by the fact that she was introduced to him, he should be quite an important person.

"My name is Allia," said her, pulling a smile though she'd gotten rather tired of meeting strangers, "nice to meet you."

"The name is Loung," said that man, smiling and offering a hand to shake. Allia took it and gently shook hands with the old man, though she didn't like it that much. She kneeled next to the fireplace, where a gray mat outlined in green was placed.

"Before you ask anything, why don't you let Mr. Loung introduce himself first?" said Elvan coldly.

Under normal circumstances, Allia would probably have asked tones of questions, one of which including "who are you?" in an imaginably informal manner. This time, though, she stayed silent, knowing that things got serious whenever Elvan kept Kayn in dark corners. She sat still, hardly moving even her chest while breathing, and stared at Loung, blinking less frequently.

The man without much memorable features began, "Before I started living here, which was already some years ago, I used to work for the intelligence system in Rouves." He paused and cleared his throat. Allia's eyes widened, and the word "curiosity" was written on her face as she leaned closer without knowing it to get a clearer audio.

"Even back then, there weren't as much secrets as there are right now, but I did learn a trick or two back then, and the most important lesson was that," he paused, leaned closer to the other side of the low table that separated him from Elvan and Allia, and spoke in a low voice, "the most versatile and easy way to get any information is by using people, friends you can trust, trust you, and keep in contact with you." He leaned back, taking a quick glimpse at the door. "For instance, I recently received an old friend's tip, about something happening inside Rouves." He winced at Allia specifically, " I was notified that you had been attacked by them quite frequently recently. Didn't you find that odd? Such a large country focusing on a nameless Zoid?"

"You know something about me, don't you?" demanded Allia, her widened eye now appearing whiter as her pupils contracted.

"I know someone had complained about secret missions," replied Loung, "as least, that's what I was told. You can't have an irrelevant target being chased with information shared among all those aggressors who viewed nothing more valuable than conquest, can you?"

"What is that supposed to mean? That they are ignorant of the attacks as well?"

"I suspected that Wels is working with them, or they are working for him, since the first day you came to me and than the Rouves came by for a visit," said Elvan.

"So, you did tell him about me, and Wels?" demanded Allia. "Well, that's something I wanted to talk to you as well. Though you agreed to keep my identity secret, I was thinking about letting Kayn know it as well," she stood up as she spoke, "I don't feel all that great keeping things from him, not like when I keep things from you."

"You can't tell him," said Elvan, almost in a commanding tone, "the less he knows, the safer he is."

Before Allia could think of another word to say, which would've been done in a matter of milliseconds, Loung said, "as a side note, I was also told that a specific woman was spotted around Rouves recently. Her names sounded quite strange to me, something like 'Baron'. I wonder what kind of woman calls herself like that?"

"The kind I'm looking for," said Allia, "or at least, Elvan instructed me to." She gave a glance to the Hunter, who gave no responses.

* * *

Kayn sat on the wooden ledge that connected the house to the sea. He was extra careful at avoiding his feet from being splashed by the gentle current, or touching the moist, fluid sand grains. Sometimes he tried to peek into the house, in which all the windows had been sealed. Even the faintest candlelight gave him no hint as to what's happening inside. In vain, he forced himself to turn his head away from looking at the direction at which the house stood, but could only be bored to near-death by the waves of tides. They were hypnotizing him, and driving him mad.

"Hey!" said a voice from behind, just a tiny bit next to a shout. Kayn remembered the voice. It belonged to the kid he had seen earlier the day, though he'd only heard it once. He turned around, and confirmed that he was right. Behind him was the same kid he had seen earlier, except this time he wasn't having his torso unclothed and swimming. He was walking on the sandy beach, wearing a seemingly worn out, light blue shirt that had some cuts on the short sleeves and left his midsection exposed, and a pair of very pale brown, almost white trousers. "You're that visitor, aren't you?"

"Tarine, is it?" asked Kayn.

"I don't think I told you my name," said Tarine, sitting down as he got to Kayn's side. The sky was already dark, so Kayn could only see his gentle, playful smile in the close distance.

"I overheard it,"

"That's rude," uttered Tarine. His smile indicated that he wasn't truly offended.

"I call that observation," said Kayn, "want to know what else I observed?"

"Not interested!" said Tarine, kicking the wood and pushing himself backwards to a lying pose, looking straight up at the cloudless sky, in which thousands of tiny dots of light flickered. "But, seeing that I'm quite bored right now, maybe you tell me," he winced at the redhead; his hands behind his head, "just try not to make me sleep."

Kayn sighed. Maybe talking to a child was a bit too challenging for him; he'd been raised up in a place were practically no child existed, and his mentality was a bit above his age as well, making him unfamiliar with others that were just about his age. Allia had been a convincing example. But, as Tarine had stated, he had nothing to do at the moment, so he might as well just do whatever he could.

"Firstly, I can tell, pretty sure, that you have some places here," he said, trying not to sound boring, though he never really knew what an engaging conversation should be like.

"That's…quite true," muttered Tarine, raising an eyebrow. "How did I slip up?"

"Your necklace," said Kayn, giving a grin. "As much as I hate water, I was bored and did a little walk along the coast, during which I presently scanned through the sand and the shells it buried," he said, rising his tone unknowingly as he got interested, "the one on your neck seemed pretty scarce, and intact, and beautiful."

"So?"

"So, though I've only read it on books, most of the time seashells are used as trading materials aside from currency. If your family wasn't particularly wealthy, they'd probably have sold it. I guess that would balance a few weeks fishing."

"Really?" uttered the blue-haired boy, a slight trace of surprise in his tone. He took the necklace from under his shirt and examined it for a while with narrowed eyes, and said, "you sold me out?"

"Actually, there was a more obvious clue." Added Kayn.

"You still have more?"

"No; you had," he corrected Tarine, "it was pretty easy to say that when all other kids were working hard, doing adult work while you were diving for fun."

"Shall I call you smart?" said Tarine, his watery blue eyes glistering in the dark, "though, you missed one important clue."

"Pry tell," uttered Kayn jokingly.

"I'll keep it secret for now, see if you can figure it out," replied Tarine, his smile enlarging. "Anyway, I don't think you're here for…sightseeing, are you? Very few go to here and fewer leave here." He robbed his eyes and continued, "Not that scary kind of 'not getting away', of course. People here just like to think of themselves as the only ones here in the world and refuses to go outside. But of course, that doesn't stop others from getting in."

"And you?" asked Kayn, "you keep saying about others; what about you?"

"Me? I can't," said Tarine. His tone sounded surprised, "didn't I just say that there've been someone coming in? As far as I know, they're the bad guys, and I can't just leave the others here." He stood up, his face seemed serious as opposed to his previous naive expression, "speaking of which, they're called Ro…I don't remember names that well."

"Rouves," said Kayn, sighing. He never thought he'd speak of them wherever he went, but it just seemed to him that he was inevitably linked with them somehow, though he really could care less about an expanding nation as long as they didn't get into his way. They had been, however, getting into his way quite frequently, since they'd stopped invading Zya after a devastating bloodbath a long time ago. "Why do I have to see them wherever I go?"

"I hate them," said Tarine, his voice suddenly turning cold, "the first time they got here, almost half the village was ruined."  
"You seem to have figured a way to keep them out," uttered Kayn, "on my way here, I saw piles of Rouves Zoids, all abandoned. How'd you do that?"

"Secret!" replied Tarine, his smile returning to his face.

Before either of them could say another word, the door of the house swung open, and out came Allia, who didn't seem to notice Kayn until a few seconds of scanning. Behind her was Elvan, who approached Kayn straight away and said, "We're staying here tonight. Mr. Loung agreed to provide us hospitality for the night. Get some rest. We're headed for Rouves tomorrow."

"What?" uttered Kayn, "that's a country! Don't you have a more specific location?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," replied Elvan, "fortunately we don't have to go so deep as to the capital of them. We'll be going to Fornus, a city at the boundary of Rouves."

"You're headed to where?" asked Tarine. Immediately he received questioning glares from both Elvan and Allia, and he responded by frowning at Kayn and said, "I've been…observing." He walked towards the house and uttered, "come on, don't be so mean! You'll be staying at my home after all!"

"What?" the word came from both Kyan and Allia. The redhead looked at the house with narrowed eyes, then turned his Tarine, and back to the house for a couple of times. "You live here?"

"Of course," replied the blue-haired boy, "why would I be going this way otherwise?"

* * *

 _How did things turn out this way?_ Thought Kayn as he stared at the ceiling that was hung low. It wasn't special in any way, with a lamp hanging on it with a string that seemed to break at any second. Even in the dark, his eyes could make out the wood patterns of the ceiling perfectly clear. They were the only things he wanted to see at the moment. He put both his hands under his head and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

Beside him was Tarine. He wouldn't say he disliked the kid, yet he definitely wasn't too fond of him, mostly because he seemed too light-hearted in the wrong way. _Perhaps that_ _'_ _s how a normal kid should be?_ He glanced over to his left, where the blue-haired boy lay. He didn't like the way Tarine slept with his clothes off, but at least he wasn't snoring, which was quite surprising to him. To think of a life in a primitive village, growing up normally and accordingly as all others do just somehow bugged Kayn. That's something he'd looked up to, something he'd dreamt of having, but could never reach. But now, when he looked at all these, he somehow found himself lucky not to be part of it. Maybe what had happened in the past had had its value?

Yet whenever he closed his eyes, and saw the fire rising in his head, the screams mixed with the sprinting sound of the burning structures, he couldn't help but wish none of that had happened, and none of that would happen again. It was as though every time he closed his eyes, he was reminding himself of the reason he'd joint the Hunters in the first place, and the reason he couldn't be a normal kid and enjoy his life, like the one next to him.

Slowly, lost in the sea of thoughts and without any intentions to get his head clear, Kayn faded into a place where dreams and his thoughts mixed, and he didn't care if he couldn't figure out which was what. He fell asleep.

* * *

"Oh, wake up already!" before any visions could form, Kayn heard Allia's voice, so loud that it thundered inside his head and his eyes sprung open in an instant, without even adjusting to the light around, though the room was still not illuminated. He looked around, and saw Tarine robbing his eyes as he put on his clothes and Allia kneeling next to him, looking at him with narrow eyes that would only appear on a doctor examining a patient.

"What is it?" mumbled Kayn as he looked outside the window. Judging by the lighting, he'd say it's about dawn, where everything was lit with a little orange and the sky's grayish-blue made it seem more perceptible than it usually did during a day.

"I just heard sounds, footsteps, from outside." The blonde informed Kayn, "Mr. Loung said it was a Rouves invasion, while Elvan went to check things out." she said as she glared at Kayn, "I thought you were the more observant between us."

"Not when I'm asleep!" grumbled Kayn as he stumbled towards the door with frequent pace.

Tarine followed suit behind, still looking sleepy.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Allia, grabbing the shoulder of the blue-haired boy.

"Well," he began, as Kayn looked back, "this is the part when I show you what you missed earlier that made me special."


	8. Back on track

Kayn looked back at Tarine, and then resumed walking out of the house. If it really was an invasion, than he had to stop it, though it confused him that somebody would actually risk doing so, given the pile of Zoids outside Prym, most sensible people should avoid going there.

Well, Rouves wasn't a sensible country, as were any others that were crazily obsessed with gathering land.

"I don't have time to play with you right now. Just stay here," said the redhead as he rushed out of the room. When he reached the Liger Zero X, it had already been fixed, looking completely new like the first time he had seen it. Despite the astonishment, he had no time to spare on appreciating the handwork of the repairmen, and got on to it in a hurry, hoping that it didn't need to get repaired again in any time sooner.

* * *

"Though it is possible that Rouves are coming, I do recommend you stay here until Elvan returns," said Allia. Apparently she'd gotten onto the Lightning Saix as well. "Maybe the thing that caused all the 'bodies' out there is going crazy."

"It should've been me telling you that," said Kayn, adjusting the Liger. Hopefully, all the configurations were the same as he'd left it.

"Well, you seemed a bit…hot-headed, lately,"

"Me? Hot-headed?" uttered Kayn, "that's something you should spend less time to worry," he said. He paid his attention on the surroundings, and so he failed to hear Allia say, "I believe more in observable facts." He knew, and trusted that Elvan was capable of informing them even if there really were a unit waiting outside and getting him surrounded, he never doubted his skills. He only worried that he would be too late to respond.

Before any communication was received, he heard some hissing sound of leaves to his left. He looked over, and saw the rock barricade, and then remembered the eerie, black objects that he'd seen earlier.

"I think I just figured out whatever that caused the pile of bodies," said him, ending the communication with Allia before she could reply and ready to pursuit. That's when Elvan's communication came in.

"It is an invasion," said the Hunter, "and by their number, they seem determined."

"What do you mean?"

"I might need backup if we are to stop them, but I also want to wait and see the outcome of this," said the Hunter in a calm tone, too calm for the situation. Kayn wanted to shout back, to tell him that standing by and watching a village being occupied, most likely destroyed in the process, wasn't an option. But he also understood that, despite being a small village without almost a single Zoid, Prym was able to persist for long, and there had been attacks before. Part of him wanted to see what was responsible for the village's peace, and probably the pile of bodies outside, but the other part of him feared that, if they –he, stood by without doing anything while he could, the scenes he saw at night might become true, again.

"I'm not gonna just stay here and do nothing!" Kayn piloted the Liger into the jungle and disappeared from Allia's sight. He, of course, failed to notice that he was just doing exactly what the blonde had been talking about. Seeing that the redhead was rushing to his death without knowing it apparently, Allia followed him immediately, and informed Elvan, asking him to minimize the damage that was coming.

* * *

When he got out, the first thing he saw were Zoids –tones of them, varying from Unenlagia to Leoblaze to Matrix Dragon, too much for a small village like Prym. There wouldn't be a chance left for the village to survive if they did commence an attack of that scale. And though Kayn knew there was a perfectly rational reason for that much preparation for a small village, whatever that'd scared the Rouves weren't there this time, and nothing would stop them if he didn't.

The sky, though faintly colored with blue, was still dark in majority and hid the black Liger naturally, so Kyan wasn't detected immediately. But that wouldn't help him long, the radars would eventually give his position out, so he decided to act before that happened. Hidden in a dark corner, he fired the shock cannons multiple times, at various directions, but all around the Rouves army. Explosions took place one by one, from the left to the right, blowing tones of smaller Zoids above ground and into pieces, as well as serving as distractions.

That, however, couldn't help him for long. As soon as the strike was commenced, he was immediately countered by a missile from the Matrix Dragon, which he barely escaped. The missile hit a rock next to the Liger Zero X, shattering it into smaller pieces that rained down on the Liger. The impact was intense, shaking the Zoid and causing a violent quake in the cockpit.

The next thing he knew, he was already a target of a bunch of Unenlagia. Unlike the previous times, he wasn't especially targeted, which he should be thankful for. Despite the, a small pack of Unenlagia was already a trouble for a Zoid that had just gotten up to balance. Kayn scanned the monitors quickly, but was still too late to respond to the strike. A pack of three got to the side of the Liger before its cannon fire could reach them, and fired at the side. It was only fortunate that the firepower of the small, reptilian Zoids were not the greatest, and so the Liger Zero X managed to endure the shots before extending the stun blade on its left and sticking it directly at the pack as it crouched sideways.

At the same time, another Unenlagia was already behind the Liger, and struck with its claws. The physical attack didn't do much damage, though. Kayn couldn't concentrate. He saw a Zoid, and he drove the Liger to smash it –a Leobalze in the front, shot down by multiple cannon shots; a couple of the lower ranked Zoids on the sides were swiped clean with the blades, and those practicing physical attacks were responded by violent shakes of the Liger that shoved them to the ground, and were either stepped over or ignored.

"That's exactly what I was talking about," said Allia to Elvan, their Zoids standing on the sides, watching the battle. It could've been an easier controllable situation a few minutes ago, but Kayn's involvement and stupidity had turned it into complete chaos. It would be hard to tell if there was any chance of getting out in once whole piece when this was over.

"I'm so gonna teach him a lesson after this," mumbled Elvan. His Whitz Tiger already on the move, swiping across the battlefield with its cannons that shot from side to side, clearing out a path for the Zoids. Allia than piloted the Lightning Saix and struck down a few smaller Zoids as well as the cheetah-like Zoid zipped through the field. One of the more noticeable Zoids was the Matrix Dragon, so she targeted it, and in a blur the Lightning Saix was there, grabbing the neck of the Dragon while landing on its back. A swift motion was all it took to disable the Zoid.

An advantage she gained while getting on top of the Matrix Dragon was that the height of the Zoid gave her a better overall view of the field, and she was able to locate Kayn with that. Currently, the one who'd caused this mess was in the middle of a pack of Leoblaze, slashing a few off while more came back. As the Matrix Dragon fell, she decided that she had to help him, and used the fallen Zoid as a jumping board to leap over a dozen of Leoblaze. Before she could even reach the outermost Zoid that surrounded Kayn, however, a tower of flame coming from her right hit the Lightning Saix right on, pushing it to the ground. It managed to get up, but was busy combating other Zoids that got in its way.

"Elvan, go get Kayn!" said Allia in an almost commanding tone, which would've sounded odd if she hadn't been spiritually occupied by the fight.

Nearby, the Whitz Tiger blasted off a Unenlagia in a quick shot as its laser strike claws got two Leoblaze under its palm. Noticing Allia's call, Elvan turned toward the direction at which the Liger Zero X was still fighting hard. The White Zoid swiped the two Leoblaze behind as it turned, and started to leap, its boosters roaring and glowing as it jetted through the crowd of Zoids, bullets lining its side as it turned into a streak, barely noticeable before the Zoids surrounding Kayn dropped dead al in a sudden.

"You'll explain this," said Elvan to Kayn, his voice stone cold and demanding.

But there were still far too many for the three of them. It had been an unwise decision to get into a fight with them in the first place, but now that it had become the reality, they'd need to figure a way to settle this instead of regretting, and they were endeavoring to do so. There the Unenlagia and Leoblaze were, having a number around thirty to fifty, standing ready for combat. The remaining Matrix Dragon, though let the Lightning Saix escaped, was still functional and was yet to be damaged.

"I promise I'll never let anyone get to your service again, ever!" shouted Allia to Kayn. She'd just let the Lightning Saix reunite with the others. "If you can get out of this alive."

Kayn, however, said nothing in return. He simply scanned the surroundings, and realized what his foolish decision had led to. His heart was too heavy for words, and he was in no mood of either thinking about battle tactics or words of apology. He sat in the cockpit, frozen. The Zoids started to commence another wave of attack, in which so of them were headed towards the village Prym.

 _Perhaps none of it had been evitable_ , thought the redhead, regardless of the shouts coming from the intercom. That was when he heard gunfire again. He thought those were the enemy Zoids', or maybe Allia and Elvan's, but those weren't. He didn't notice that, however, before another incoming message was sent to his Zoid. Though he couldn't find himself a logical explanation as to who might have done that, he let the communication carry on, and saw the last face he expected.

"What are you doing here, Tarine?"

"Look to your left."

The redhead did so, and saw another Zoid in the battlefield shooting down as many as he could see. The Zoid was light blue in color, and had a spinosaurus-like look, with thin, black fins mounted on its back to looked just like the strange objects Kayn had seen previously. The guns mounted on its shoulders kept firing, but there were still way too many to take down.

"Not the best time for introductions, but he's called the Dark Spiner," said Tarine, smirking even in battle, "and that's why I have some special place in the village. Only I can control it."

"And you think it can help?" the Liger Zero managed to slash the Matrix Dragon on its side, before getting hit by its flame thrower and got tossed aside.

"Well, the Spiner has something special, but I'll have to ask you to get as far away as possible," said Tarine; the Dark Spiner swiping a dozen of Leoblaze with its tail.

"How far?"

"I guess, when the communications can't reach,"

"What?" mumbled Kayn, "why should I trust you?"

"Just do it," answered Tarine. Another missile struck right at a rock next to the Liger Zero; the impact blowing it aside. Seeing that letting Tarine do whatever he intended to do might be the only option left, Kayn tried to convince Allia and Elvan into joining the plan, and the result was expectable.

"You think I can trust your decision again after what you've just shown us?" questioned Allia, shouting at Kayn.

"I know it sounds stupid, and you have every reason to yell at me, but this might be our only chance to get away!"

"I think it's worth a try," said Elvan, "if we head back to the village, we might just be able to get out of range. But what happens next, I can't guarantee, and you will be held responsible. Are you sure you can take it?"

"Tarine, we leaving!" said Kayn to Tarine. The three Zoids that battled their way back to the village, bullets swiping the enemy Zoids and the ground, parts flying at all directions.

* * *

By the time he couldn't see them anymore, the Dark Spiner was already surrounded by dozens of Leoblaze and Unenlagia, all ready to make a fatal blow. Tarine tested the communications, which could still reach the others. _Not_ _good_ _!_ thought him as the Dark Spiner gunned down a number of Zoids in front of it and rushed forward, ignoring the gunfire of the Zoids at the expense of its armor.

Tarine tested the communications again, still in range. He drove the Spiner to get farther away from his village, but was strike down by a slam the Matrix Dragon managed to deliver, flying backwards and slamming a couple of Zoids behind, all falling down one by one as the Dark Spiner reached the ground. It was still sliding backwards, its armor rubbing against the sandy ground.

When he could see again from the violent shake of the slide, the Matrix Dragon was already in front of the Dark Spiner; its mouth opening wide, revealing the flamethrower inside. Desperate, Tarine tried out the connection again, hoping it would be out of range. The difference in the result could led to him defeating the whole army or getting roasted into charcoal.

The connection was slow, and that frustrated Tarine. He could see from the monitor that Matrix Dragon was crouching forward, preparing to breath fire upon the spinosaurus-like Zoid. His heart pounded rapidly, messing with his thoughts. He could already feel he was sweating before the flame was even there, nervously eyeing from the connection menu to the main monitor. The connection went slow, slower than he'd like.

The Matrix Dragon opened fire. The main monitor showed nothing more than just a mess of red, orange, yellow, and some slightly green and blue patches.

Then things started to become less like things, just various colors being blended together without boundaries, and shaking from side to side, spinning, sometimes upside down, and extremely hot. The heat was spreading quickly, and Tarine found himself harder and harder to take it; each breath he took felt heavy, as was his head. He was suffocating, for people he'd just met a day ago.

"Sorry I dragged you in this, Spiner,"

But then his eyes caught the slight screen on the side. He forced a smile, a pressed a button, though he didn't know if anything would happen if the Dark Spiner wasn't standing upright. He didn't have time to think.

In all of a sudden, nothing seemed to have happened. But then he could feel the heat fading. He eyed the monitor. The other Zoids were all down.

* * *

"You have to account for this!" demanded Allia harshly, not her usual type of complaint, but a colder, more critical prosecution with narrowed, expressionless eyes.

Kayn, however, was still hiding inside the cockpit of the Liger Zero. The others had parked their Zoids at the bay where water was shallow enough such that their Zoids could still be "standing". It was the distance just enough to disconnect with Tarine, and they hadn't heard of him since then.

Standing on the sandy coast and looking straight up at the Liger regardless of the sunlight that stung her eye, Allia shouted again. Elvan, however, took no approach. He simply stood by and waited.

Kayn leaned on the control panels and looked at the monitor that showed the beach directly below him. He sighed, deeper that he could've imagined. Just a few minutes ago, he'd led the others into a no-win situation, and would probably have got them all killed. And even now he could be sure to say if anyone made it out alive. His having escaped the battle was on the expense of leaving Tarine, someone he'd just met, behind, and there had been sometimes since he'd left, so something must have happened to the boy. He started to sob, partially because of the guilt, but more because he hated his own stupidity, the impulse that drove him into acting without thinking, something he should've thrown away during the training as a Hunter, something he'd wanted to throw away.

To go out like this and face the others would probably mean death to him. He had to admit, he was a bit cowardly at things like this. How could he ever get out and accept that he'd gone uncontrollable, while knowing that Elvan would still ask for his accompanying because only he could activate the Liger Zero X.

Fortunately for him, not soon after that, the woods at the far end of the village started to swindle, and out of it came the Dark Spiner, damaged, of course, but still intact. The Spiner, however, was accelerating, and had no intention to decelerate, not to mention to stop. Kayn, though depressed, attempted to contact Tarine, but got no result.

It was only when it approached the boundary of the coast did the Dark Spiner started to decelerate, and even by then, it could only stop fully until it was a few tens meters away from the other three Zoids. And when it did stop, its cockpit opened instantaneously, from which steam started to be given off. From there, though faintly, Kayn could see Tarine dropping himself into the sea; his limbs swinging accordingly to the wind current and gravitational pull; his head facing down.

When Kayn had finally gotten out of his Zoid, Taine had already gotten back to the shore; all his clothing wet, though the blue-haired boy seemed to care less about that. Kayn, however, could hardly see that due to his head facing down, staring only at the darkened, moist sand and his own footprints.

Allia was there, standing with her arms crossed in front of her chest and staring at Kayn without blinking. "Are you supposed to be saying something?"

"I'm sorry,"

"Is that it?" demanded the blonde.

"I don't mind that," said Tarine, still managing to pull off a smile even in this kind of situation, "besides, that was kind of fun, and hot."

Allia looked at Elvan, then at Kan again. The Hunter didn't seem to care about what the redhead would say; he was just standing, and perhaps listening.

"At least you have to explain why you did that!" demanded Allia again, louder.

"You have you secrets, I have mine," answered Kayn frustratingly, his eyes looking full of anger. Not the kind that spells hatred, but the kind that was more defensive. "I don't think I can trust you yet,"

"Is not about trust!" said Allia. It would've made much sense if she'd shouted, but she didn't. Instead she was just spelling the words out coldly, in a monotonous and emotionless manner, which scared Kayn more, and Tarine, who was sitting on the side listening.

"Listen to her this time," said Elvan finally. "She's right; this is not about trust, it's about not letting you lose control again."

"In that case," said Kayn, unwillingness shown thoroughly in his tone, "This is something that happened long ago. Promise me you won't bring it out again."

"Just say it!"

"Before I joined the Hunters, which is about six years ago, I was just a normal child like the rest of…well, not like the rest of you, but the rest of the world. I used to live in a city in Zya, somewhere close to the boundary.

"One night, a famous circus came to visit our city. My parents brought to watch the show. It was a perfectly normal day, in would've been one of the best days in my life, until when we arrived and had watched half the performance," his voice started to hiss and lighten, and he could feel tears secreted in his eyes, but he forced the water drops back in and continued to say, "There was a Rouves attack –the last time they publicly attacked another country as far as I can remember. There were great casualties, including my parents. The Zyan army managed to drive the Rouves back, but they were too late already. The commander of the army was Elvan, who also happened to be a very close friend to my family."

Allia looked at Elvan, who simply sighed.

"He was going to take me to somewhere safe and take care of me, but I refused," said Kayn, his voice suddenly becoming firm and solid, as was his glares. "I wanted to prevent things like that from happening again, so I asked him to make me capable of doing so."

"And that's why I joined the Hunters," said Elvan, "that's enough storytelling for now."

Tarine, who'd been listening on the side and wasn't supposed to say anything, spoke up, "I kind of overheard you last night," said him, standing up, "You're going to Rouves, right? Can I join in?"

"What are you thinking?" asked Kayn.

"If you have to ask," answered the blue-haired boy, his voice suddenly becoming sharp and harsh, "I hate them."

"That's just another reason you shouldn't come," said Kayn, "we're not going against Rouvves; we're just trying to look for someone. And, what happens to your home if you're gone?" he glanced at Tainre, "you're the one that disabled the Rouves Zoids, right?"

"Of course you noticed that," uttered Tarine, resuming his smile. Suddenly Kayn found that smile creepy, just like its owner. How could he be so ruthless just a few seconds ago, and then suddenly wore such an innocent expression?

"As for my village, I don't think they'll risk sending another army here to get them wasted," he continued to say, "I'm going with you no matter what. You might encounter some Rouves in your way. You know, they're quite literally everywhere these days, and I want to help out as much as I can."

"So there's no way I can stop you?"

"No!"

 _Oh god!_ Sighed Kayn silently. _Another trouble._


	9. A friend from enemies

The group entered the gate of Fornus. It didn't take them long, in terms of long-ranged travel. They were they within two weeks, which hopefully would grant them enough time to look for the Baron before she slipped to somewhere else. The Liger Zero X took no more cover, seeing that whoever was hunting it down was doing it as a secret, and wouldn't dare bust it apart in a crowded city.

"Seriously, why must we find her?" questioned Allia again, "I'm sure there are more persons like her."

"There are, indeed," answered Elvan. The group was now walking on foot, having their Zoids parked somewhere safe. The city was, unlike previous towns they've visited, naturally large, which makes the search seemingly more hopeless. Each street were packed with faces that looked far too similar to one another that, if anyone were to hide, it would be the perfect location.

"But what I need her to do is a bit…dreadful, and I need to ensure loyalty. Besides, her help will be a lot cheaper than that provided by others, seeing that it'll be free of charge."

"What do you say if we split up?" suggested Tarine, who hadn't been helpful since the journey had been uneventful.

Allia sighed and said, "We now have one person to look for. I don't want to make it four."

"But that enhances efficiency." Replied Tarine, shrugging his shoulders. He glanced at Kayn, "What do you think?"

"I think," answered Kayn, looking aimlessly and perplexedly at the jam-packed roads. "I'll just do whatever that doesn't aggravate the search."

"But splitting up means a higher chance of finding our guy,"

"If we don't lose each other," remarked Allia, "by the way, we're looking for a woman."

"What about this?" Tarine insisted with his suggestion, "we split up for now, and rendezvous here after a certain time."

"Only if you can count accurately and remember a way to get back here," uttered Allia.

"We have a living map here," said Tarine, "Kayn once told me he recited maps."

"I didn't recite all," protested Kayn, "besides, I feel like you're up to something."

Tarine didn't respond to the accusation. Instead, he casually turned to Elvan and murmured, "What do you think?"

The eldest man didn't speak immediately, as usual. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest, head down, eyes closed, apparently considering the pros and cons and didn't want any disturb. When he spoke, it had already been some minutes, and everyone was ready to listen. "We'll split up, two in a group." He gave Kayn a glance, "you go with the girl," he then turned to Tarine, "and you go with me. Meet up here at exactly two hours later."

"Alright, if you say so" mumbled Tarine, "you're the boss."

It had just been about half an hour, and already Allia had begun quarreling with Kayn, the mean argument being their divergence at the direction to go, in which Kayn suggested they should go to the busiest streets while Allia thought they would get lost by doing so.

"So what do you suggest? Stay at a hidden alley and hope she'll pop up all in a sudden?" said Kayn, "if that's what you're thinking, then why are we here in the first place?"

"I was just saying, that we shouldn't go too far away while being split up!" Allia argued, shouting.

"That's the whole point of splitting up, you idiot!" yelled Kayn, "and you know it wasn't up to me to make that decision, so don't just stand here, and do nothing!"

That was when he heard an eerie sound, standing out in particular out of the background noise that sounded so loud and yet so unrecognizable. It was a scream, no doubt, but it sounded subtle, and it was like fading, like whoever was making it wanted it to be heard, but dare not make it audible. It wasn't difficult to identify. It was the scream of someone being robbed, or with that potential.

Kayn turned his head around, hoping to get a clearer sense of direction as to where the sound came from. This was the difficult part, listening especially just to a single frequency from the background noise with naked ears, not to mention distinguishing the source of it. Allia, apparently noticing the same sound, whispered, "You're not going to follow that sound, are you?" only to get a hush from the redhead.

He didn't even use words to argue with Allia, just gesturing for her to shut her mouth. He listened with extra focus, his expression tightened, seemingly concentrating while having quite a will to yell at everything around him that gave him disturbance. And then, when Allia found it too boring to watch, he seemed to have got a clue, and immediately stormed one of the main streets, running so fast that the blonde would have a hard time following him if she chose to do so. But, before she could realize, Kayn was already gone.

"That's why I opposed to splitting up," mumbled the girl.

When Kayn got to the source of the scream, he saw just exactly what he'd imagined: a guy, apparently over fifty, weak and wrinkled with scarce gray hair, laying on the ground with his back, facing three rogues, all of which being muscular and towering over the old man. One of the rogues was holding an iron pole, rusted and bent, nevertheless sturdy enough to be threatening while the other two simple crackled their knuckles.

"Hey!" yelled Kayn as he arrived, his legs feeling no pain from the previous run.

The three rogues turned around, all of them having the same hasty look which had the invisible word "danger". In no time the old man was forgotten as he stumbled his way from the more lit area into the shaded, dark, deeper part of the alley, disappearing from sight. The rogues, however, seemed to care nothing for that as they approached Kayn with their expressions turning from a hostile, threatening look into an angered, fully rage-filled one.

Kayn was ready to take on the rogues, though he considered his first priority of distracting them and creating a gap for the old man to escape done, and therefore could retreat at any time. He decided he needed to teach the rogues a lesson. Having spent years training with the Hunters, he himself had acquired some moderate combat skills, and thus should be able to take them on. In fact, he wasn't the one to make the decision. Rather out of defense or offense, the rogues had already taken the first move.

Kayn, reacting reflexively, crouched down as the first on struck with the iron pole and punched the rogue in the stomach, instantly taking him down. The two behind, seeing the first one's defeat, attempted another strategy rather than striking with brute force, with one of them moving fast and getting to Kayn's back, attempting to have him surrounded.

Before the redhead could do anything, the one in front of him stalked forward with his fists tightened, swinging one arm at Kayn's face. Kayn managed to dodge that, but was tripped down by the one behind him, and fell, his face hitting the ground hard. Everything around him seemed to have rotated ninety degrees, and by the time he got himself oriented to the surroundings, the rogue with the iron pole had already gotten back up, swinging his arm. All Kayn could see was the pole that was patched with rusts similar to his hair color jetting towards him, so he raised his arms and placed them in from of his head rapidly, hoping to get his face defended in time.

The pole hit his arm guards, producing a clear, high-pitched screech. Kayn peeked through the gaps his arms formed, only to see another incoming strike. He closed his eyes, letting the arm guards protect him again, but felt something –someone –grabbing his arms, pulling them away from his face, and he failed to resist. Fortunately he was just a kid, and therefore was smaller in terms of body build, which allowed him to shrink his head down before the pole was half way embedded in the concrete wall behind him, where his head had been just a second ago.

The one grabbing his arms was strong, and hauled him over, throwing him onto the ground as he gave out an utter of pain; he felt his face robbing again the rough ground. His eyes were closed due to reflexes to protect himself, and weren't readily available to open again owing to the pain caused by his crash-landing; he felt his left chest, as well as upper arm, being banged and were felt his bones crying out of the pain, not to different from how he imagined being hit by that iron pole, with the addition of his upper arm's burning with agony due to it having been robbed against the rigged ground.

He struggled to get his eyes open, gritting his teeth, seeing only shoes approaching his direction. He pushed his body, endeavoring to get up, but his lack of strength, along with his own weight, pulled him down towards the ground again. That was when he heard a voice saying, "Three against one, that's no quite dignifying even to you robbers!"

For some reason, the first though he had was: _that_ _'_ _s definitely not Allia._

The next thing he heard was punches, screams, and the sounds of bodies hitting the ground. By the time he got up, two of three of the rogues were already down, with no signs of getting back up. The remaining one fled at his direction. Remembering the pain they'd brought him, Kayn focused his remaining strength into one fist and swung it right towards the running rogue, sending him plugging straight towards the ground.

"Can't imagine they're targeting kids like you these days." When Kayn looked back at the opening of the alley, he had a better look at his rescuer, who was a teenager, probably two or three years older than him, with middle-length purple hair and small, narrow red eyes. The teen walked towards Kayn, offered a hand, and said, "you okay?"

Feeling his legs weak and losing balance, Kayn grabbed the teen's hand before he leaned against a wall, and said, "thanks, but I could've taken care of that on my own."

"You wounds seem to tell differently,"

Kayn examined his left arm. It didn't hurt until he got out of his troubles, but now it was burning, with a scratch covered in semi-clotted blood. He swiped the dirt from the wound, and then took out proper medicine from his bag. _Glad_ _I_ _never let anyone carry stuffs for me._

As he wrapped a clean cloth around the wound, he noticed some noise from outside the alley, like crowd shouting, but louder, and more united, consistent.

"What's that?" he asked, not realizing that he was talking to a stranger casually, something he didn't usually do.

"Not from around here, are you?" replied the teen. "That's something I don't see often."

Kayn stood up with a little help from the stranger. He decided he'd troubled him long enough, and therefore thanked him again quickly, saying, "sorry for bothering you, but I've got to go now," it wasn't until then did he come to knowledge that he'd got lost because of his previous reckless act.

"Not too familiar around here?" asked the teen nicely. "I might be able to help you. By the way, that noise over there means Zoid matches most of the time."

"Match?" uttered Kayn. He'd heard of that before; his mentor, Elvan, was quite famous for that, after all. But when it came to the term "match", all he could remember was that these were mostly held just on important days, holidays, for instance. And he couldn't recall what exactly was this day. "I thought those were only…"

"Not here," answered the purple-haired teen. He didn't need to think before answering the unfinished question, because it was far too predictable. "Forgotten where you're already?" he smirked, pacing out of the alley slowly, occasionally glancing back, as though concerning Kayn's injury. "I was heading to this one, by the way. Another uniqueness of Rouves is that, you can watch these matches for free. That is, of course, if you make it to a sit."

Kayn stumbled slowly behind the teen, the impact still hurting his torso as he arched forward to minimize the pain. He considered the time: he'd just been out with Allia for about half an hour, and that rush to the gangsters shouldn't have taken him for long. Deciding that it'd be best to leave Allia behind, seeing that she would only be a burden, Kayn asked, "How long does a match last mostly?"

"At most, fifteen minutes. But the fastest record was within seconds," replied the teen, "why the question?"

"I was thinking I might want to come with you."

"Like that?"

"I told you I'm fine." said Kayn, a bit annoyed. "Aren't you supposed to be hurrying?"

"Let's get going then." Said the teen, still sounding worried. "By the way, I haven't officially introduced myself. I'm Griff."

"Kayn."

The arena that held the match was quite a generic one, having a cylindrical structure made of red bricks with the battlefield set in the middle, scarcely spaced sits filling the auditorium surrounding the ring. Already there were tones of people, all having their faces ebullience, shouting for joy. Apparently, strangers or not no longer matter there, as people gathered in groups that seemed to have been formed just by chance.

"This is…" uttered Kayn as he entered the auditorium. Already the audience had been shouting and yelling, forming waves and waves of sound that couldn't be made out anymore. He wouldn't necessarily call those noises, acknowledging the enthusiasm behind the cheering, if they could be called that way. "A bit crazy."

"This is Rouves," answered Griff simply and briefly, "though I haven't been in one of these for quite a while. Guess these aren't too famous in other countries?"

"People just aren't these…vehement."

"Maybe that's way you don't see much of these matches outside of Rouves," said Griff, though he could hardly hear his own voice in the overwhelming background noise. "We carry out the matches for no purpose other than pure entertainment; I guess that's why people here enjoy it that much."

 _Maybe that_ _'_ _s why Rouves had become so_ _aggressive_ _too._ Thought Kayn. He knew he was still a bit biased, but somehow the people here simply made him want to forget everything the country had done –everything but that attack.

His deep in thought was disturbed as the crowd got even more hyped, the cheering noise covering the Zoids' entering the ring. For a moment, Kayn had thought that the background chant might even be more booming than the explosive sounds of bullets flying out of gatling gun in a real life, live-or-die battle. This was how involved the audience was, how affected were the people of Rouves by Zoids battle and competitive events, and that was not a bad sign at all, Kayn noticed. These people were enjoying their lives, their own culture, something that was neutral on its own. They were alive, they were free, they were happy.

 _Maybe not all the Rouves are bad._

Two Zaber Fang entered the arena, one white with light blue deco, and one red with black strips. They met each other face in face, neither of them making a move. Kayn remembered this; this was a kind of ceremonial respect.

"Which side do you cheer for?" asked the redhead. He found himself dumb for asking the question when Griff answered, "neither."

The purple-haired teen continued, "I know nothing about the combatants at all, but that doesn't discount the entertainment factor of the match."

"So, you won't be mad for either side losing?"

"Why would anyone?" said Griff in a relaxing tone, even though he sounded serious, "A strong pilot knows to respect and learn from the one who defeats him."  
Neither of them said anything as the match began. The two Zaber Fang leaped backwards immediately, simultaneously stalking form side to side, eyes fixed on their opponents. The white one struck first, firing blasts of energy bullets from the cannon on its back as it charged right towards the red one.

The red one skillfully dodged the bullets, making a great forward leap as the white one approached. The red Zaber Fang extended its forelimbs, claws at the ready as the two Zoids collided. The both of them twisted in midair, switching positions with one another as they passed by, and plugging straight towards the earth.

The red Fang had struck precisely and intensively, robbing the white Fang off its balance and sending it hurling towards the ground, crash-landing as dirt went splashing in all directions.

More skillful, the red Fang landed feet-first, successfully gaining a chorus of cheering chants of enjoyment and fervor and ear-piercing clapping. The red Fang didn't stop there, pursuing with additional gunfire, shooting a way from the dirt in from of it to the white Fang in one straight line.

The white Zaber Fang, getting to its feet in time, barely escaped the blast. It was losing; obviously its pilot knew that as well. It just kept on dodging blasts, having lost the lead of the fight. Though Kayn had little combat experience, he could tell that it would take more than a miracle for the white Zoid to emerge victorious. The fight would soon be over.

That was before the white Zaber Fang retaliated with its guns, missing its intended target as the growing bullets soared towards the auditorium. The red Zaber Fang unhesitatingly sprung towards the would-be targets, taking the shots as the Zoid crashed into the brick wall of the arena, hammering a pit out of it.

Before it could get up, however, the white Zaber Fang took its opportunity, hastening straight for the red Zoid, gnus ready.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the first one to be drawn by that act, surprisingly, was Griff, who stood up reflexively with a face filled with resentment that for a moment he seemed to be an entirely different person. "That's totally cheating!"

The audience, however, gave no applause to him, and even called him to sit down and stop hindering the view. The teen refused, complaining that the act was a violation of rules, only to be informed, "there are no rules".

"A victory like that," said Kayn in a whisper, not the kind that was emitted by a shy, cowardly kid, but the heavy, creepy kind that drew everyone's attention, "you find that entertaining?"

"Little kids should just shut up and step aside!" the audience demanded.

Kayn did nothing to reply, simply standing down with Griff. They wanted to quit watching, but fortunately, the red Zaber Fang wasn't so defeated at all, and did a last-second strike back, ending the match once and for all.

"After all, the one who fights honorably wins," uttered Griff, seemingly satisfied at the result as he stared at the audience who'd tolerated the cheating.

Kayn, having forgotten the time, remembered he should have just about an hour left to reunite with the others. Because of that, he quickly left after a rush farewell.


	10. A new player

"Have your happy manhunt?"

"That's what you say after I lost you?" uttered Kayn after he'd reunited with Allia, who seemed to care nothing about his sudden disappearance. The designated time for meeting up with the others was close, and none of them had yet to get anything regarding the whereabouts of the Baron.

The way back to the rendezvous had been memorized by Kayn, so it wasn't too much of a challenge excluding Allia's over-frequent complaints and questions. He simply ignored them all.

As they arrived, the Elvan and Tarine were already there waiting. The Hunter leaned against a tree with his arms folded in front of his chest, not looking pleasant, though he'd never looked gentle. Beside him was Tarine, seemingly bored, which kind of told Kayn that the other group had failed to locate the Baron.

"Sorry, we haven't found her," said Kayn. He'd expected to hear nothing from Elvan, and he was wrong.

"We found her," said Elvan.

"And why don't you seem satisfied?" Allia asked.

Tarine, who'd been just fiddling with his fingers out of boredom, said quietly, "Apparently something's going on with them,"

Allia, as she'd always been, was the first to speak up, "Stop playing mysterious and talk!"

"To make it short, she's currently unavailable to help us," said Tarine, as untroubled as always.

"What's causing it?" asked Kayn politely before Allia could say another word. He knew that they needed calm at the moment, not simply the passion to get the job done, and he could be certain that Elvan was just doing the same.

"She's willing to help us, but can't," Elvan explained, his mien perplex. Kayn had seen that for a few times, and usually that could only indicate a trouble that wasn't quite practically solvable. The man frowned before he continued, "You did notice the frequent expansion of Rouves these days, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"Apparently, there are some people who don't like it, and sometimes earlier, the Baron was caught in the middle of one of the rebellion groups, which sent her here. To be honest, she wanted to escape as well,"

"But why didn't she?" demanded Allia.

"Because she doesn't have the means to," replied Elvan patiently, "she's being watched, and they are forcing her to do some infiltration job."

"Can't we just find a replacement?" asked Allia again, "does it have to be her?"

Elvan ignored her; he's good at that, "these rebels know about blackmailing."

"And they used what exactly to trap our target?" asked Kayn. Something just seemed wrong. A moment ago, he'd just witnessed some good in the country he'd always hated, and now, he'd just learned about the dark side of someone like him, or Tarine, someone that fought for what they thought was right. He would've been extremely willing to help any local rebels just a dozen of days ago. But now, on a second thought, he couldn't force himself to hate Rouves. It was just another country under development, and there's nothing wrong with its people. "Maybe I can talk this out."

"You don't really know the concept behind blackmailing, do you?" Elvan sighed before he explained, "in order to keep your target in your command, you need something irresistible, something your victim can't afford to lose. And in this case, they have her family."

Allia uttered in disbelief –not the shocked kind, but the kind like when a grown up heard a fairy tale and felt fed up, "They managed to track down the family of a woman who is already weird enough to go by the nickname Baron? Doesn't sound likely to me."

"We don't actually need to care about that," uttered Tarine, "the point is, she is very well convinced, and therefore refuses to help us before she can get away of this."

"Either way," said Kayn, confidently, much to Allia's surprised, "why don't we approach her and get the situation clear first?"

"I have to warn you, things may not turn out the way you want them to." Whispered Elvan. The group arrived at where the Baron was staying –a cheap looking accommodation, two stories high, with wooden walls that were either weathered and covered with uneven spikes or severely mangled, probably due to some accident with unsatisfied customers.

Kayn walked in without hesitation.

* * *

The room in which the Baron had rented was on the second floor, accessible only via a swirl of old, floppy stairs. Kayn took a step, and immediately he regretted doing so, because a wooden fell off before he could even steady himself. He hit the floor on his back, mumbling a few sentences of complaints that nobody around him cared about.

When he reached the second floor, having literally climbed up the stairs using all four of his limbs in the process to at least ensure that he wouldn't get himself severely injured, having almost torn down the staircase in the process. Luckily, nobody seemed to care.

"They really need better maintenance here," mumbled the redhead, grateful that he was the only one that entered the accommodation. He could hardly imagine how this could be a proper commercial facility.

Before his eyes could commence the search, however, a voice came from behind, mixed with a mild giggle.

"I assume you're the one that broke the stairs?"

Kayn turned over, and saw behind him a woman, roughly a head taller than him, with curly, light brown hair and beady, bright eyes that glimmered even in the dimly lit floor.

"How did you get here?" somehow that's the first thing that came into Kayn's mind. As far as he could tell, the stairs that he'd unintentionally destroyed was the only means to get up stairs, which confused him.

"Rope," said the woman, with a light grin on her face. She walked towards Kayn and said, "You seem a little too young to be in places like this."

"I don't think anyone can stand places like this. Mind your steps, or the floor may send you straight down," replied the redhead. He turned away, insisting on focusing on his mission, which seemed to be too easily accomplished. Out of the three rooms on that were on the floor, one could be seen empty due to the widely open door. The other, though had its door closed, could clearly be guessed to have been left idle for some time, since the knob of the door was missing, with sprints of wood surrounding the whole left by it.

Therefore, he asked softly to confirm his guess, "I'm here to find someone known as the Baron, who appears to be a woman, a bit like you."

The woman's smirk sank for not even a second before reemerging, spreading wider this time.

 _Just as_ _I_ _expected._ Thought Kayn. He was quite certain this time that he'd evaluated his task rather successfully, as hinted by the woman's reaction upon the mentioning of the name "Baron". She was the one, he could tell. Why else would someone rent somewhere like this place that was no different than a junkyard to live, and use a rope to enter the second floor? Most importantly, there seemed to be only one resident for the time being, and that particular person didn't feel likely to have any visitors.

"Would you let me know if you've heard of her? I'm quite certain she was, and should be around here." Asked Kayn nicely, faking a smile that even he himself felt a little too awkward to have been done. He just couldn't get along with smiles.

The woman sensed that too, apparently. She walked round the boy, towards the only room that seemed hospitable, and said softly –softly, but treacherous in nature with a sensible degree, like visible spikes of a rose, "I would consider giving up if I were you. You've no idea what you're doing here. Besides, it seems that your very presence here is already something against nature, like a fish in the middle of a desert. This just isn't the place for you to be, boy."

"Not for most," replied Kayn, his voice terribly calm and steady, and so light that the woman had to read his lips to evaluate the very sentence. Yet that didn't stop the woman from ignoring him. "What'd you say if I'm someone capable of working for Elvan. Baron?"

The woman stopped, frozen like she'd just realized that she'd stepped on a mine. She turned slowly towards Kayn, who stood by the door bank with his arms crossed before his chest. Her eyes were no longer of that playful nature of witty women, but of a terribly rigid gaze, enclosed in a dead solid frame. Even her fine eyebrows seemed to have been electrified, lining straight against her tilted eye frames.

Kayn might have a triumphant look, but he was worried inside; he could tell the emotion represented by that face. Was she angry, like most women he'd seen would do when something unfortunate happened? No; she'd have talked, or even yelled if that had been the case. Was she simply bothered? She looked like more than that. Maybe she didn't like the mentioning of Elvan's name?

The woman, however, took an unexpected turn as she said nothing but shoved the redhead indoor.

* * *

Somewhere out in grassland, a Matrix Dragon paced slowly and aimlessly.

To anyone, it wouldn't be a surprise that a powerful Zoid like that would be out wandering, because everyone knew it wasn't wandering. It was patrolling, in an area that belonged to no one. It was a means to showcase power as well as to scout for Rouves, probably the only one dared enough to execute such impractical moves that would draw attention, though it was known that drawing attention was a means of implanting fear, especially to those defenseless.

Unbeknownst to the Matrix Dragon, however, there was one more predator out there in the land, viewing the Dragon from far away so it would seem that it was merely a dot amongst the short and uneven wild grass.

The Matrix Dragon had drawn its attention successfully.

Leaving behind giant tiger-like footprints, the Zoid approached the Matrix Dragon, step by step. It crouched down a bit as it proceeded, its giant tooth scratching along the earth, leaving two thin trails behind that would later be covered by its footsteps. It watched carefully.

The Matrix Dragon hadn't discovered it yet.

Like its name suggested, the Zoid –the Brastle Tiger –leapt forward from its hiding place, running full speed towards the Matrix Dragon, just like how a real tiger would.

"Mind if I interrupt?"

When the Matrix Dragon finally realized the Brastle Tiger –the moment it turned towards its approaching enemy –it was already too late. The Brastle Tiger agilely stopped the Matrix Dragon from firing as it hopped towards the Dragon and knocked it down right on the head, its front palm pinning the Dragon's head against the dirt ground hard.

The Matrix Dragon retaliated, its limbs jerking in a failed attempt to lift itself back from the ground. It couldn't risk firing any of its missiles or even using the flamethrower, because the Brastle Tiger was too close, any damage could be inflicted upon the Matrix Dragon itself, too.

"Finally I met one and you're like this; I expected more." Muttered the pilot of the Tiger, his voice playful in nature, reflecting his lack of concern over the life of the Matrix Dragon's pilot. In fact, if anyone asked him, he'd say that he'd waited long enough since his last kill, and would probably be expressing how delighted he was to be able to just be fighting someone, when he's not in the "hunting season".

The fight itself, however, had proved to be disappointing.

The silver claws of the Brastle Tiger glowed, not because of the sunlight they reflected. A gentle, orange light like heated iron appeared even on the claws as they dug deeper into the head of the Matrix Dragon, misshaping it even with just a brute force. Though the cockpit of the Dragon wasn't really in the head, the Brastle Tiger's pilot could care less, and continued to let the heat emitted by the thermal claws melt down the Dragon, a pool of reflective liquid spread along the ground as steam bean to evolve.

That, however, failed to signify the end of the fight, if it could be called that way.

Whoever was piloting the Brastle Tiger was far from being satisfied. He wasn't just looking forward to a challengeable fight, he wanted for some kills, and that hadn't happened yet. Aiming at the cockpit the Brastle Tiger struck again, its claws digging into the transparent object, completely devastating whatever was inside; its pilot imagining the screams and the splashes of colors inside.

For now, he could say he was satisfied. That's when a call reached him.

"I wonder why I need to talk to you this way," said a female voice, "I don't remember you gaining permission to get out."

"Who says I'm out?" he answered. "Maybe I'm just…playing."

"Inside a cockpit? Not likely. Besides, the Brastle Tiger isn't in the hanger right now."

"Maintenance, I guess."

"You can stop all this, Hale." Said the female, "nobody knows my brother like I do,"

Hale leaned back against the chair. "Alright, maybe I sneaked out for a while. But, do I have to say this again? You're my sister, not babysitter."

"Then act like a brother, not a child,"

"I am a child, not like you," replied Hale in a matter-of-fact tone. He seemed to be proud of his statement, though.

The female –his sister –paused for a while. He wondered if that meant he had a temporal victory, but he knew better: he would never win an argument against her.

"The master needs you." She said coldly, as though she didn't wish to say that.

"I thought I wasn't permitted for any participation with a Zoid because of poor attitude and…I can't really recall that…" he answered in a speedy tone, declaring his refusal, "Ah! That's right, because I am a child."

"Whatever dissatisfaction you have, you can tell that to the general. Right now, his authority doesn't transcend that of the Wels'."

"Alright. But I'm only doing this because you ask me to,"

"Wels asked me to ask you."

* * *

"Have a seat," said the woman, gesturing Kayn to sit on a bed, which seemed very likely to crumble upon any individual's weight.

"No thank you," replied Kayn. "I'll just stand. By the way, I didn't come here just to talk."

"Don't be impatient." Said the woman. "I must first congratulate you for figuring out who I am. Yes, I'm the one they call 'Baron', though I don't really appreciate that title."

Kayn eyed the room, and concluded that he would be safe letting his guard down just a little. The entire room seemed empty, with just one tiny wooden table that had weathered beyond repair –not even coming with chairs –and the bed he dared not sit upon, the door he had used to go in and a simple square hole as window the only ways out.

The Baron continued, "I wonder what that old man did to make a little kid listen to him. He sent you, didn't he?"

"Apparently you know why I'm here."

"But you don't seem to know why I'm here," answered the Baron as she sat on the bed. Nothing happened. "Tell me, how did you plan on convincing me?"

"You'll have to wait and see," replied Kayn coldly. "And you'll know if it works."

The Baron frowned. "I'm not really that interested in letting you do so. Besides, I'd like to know if Elvan has run out of men, sending a boy to me."

"I volunteered." Answered Kayn. "And apparently there isn't an army for him to command, which has been happening for quite a while. I thought he'd told you."

"So tell me, why are you here?"

Kayn took a deep breath before saying, "I know what kind of situation you're in, and the reason you won't help us."

"Therefore?"

"You really intend to work _for_ the rebels?"

The Baron frowned. "Rebels? I'd rather call them a bunch of rouges gathered in one place. That's really all they are."

"But you're afraid of them, aren't you?" whispered Kayn, intentionally taunting the Baron, who said nothing in response, and simply appeared to be deep in thoughts. The redhead continued. "I don't know what your 'bunch of rouges' are capable of, but they certainly hit you in the right spot, didn't they?"

"Maybe you can suggest and alternative to cooperating with them. I don't mind helping them out a little, seeing that they'll fail eventually, but I just don't like being commanded around, especially by those who knows nothing about manners; I'm a lady, after all." The Baron said, swiping strands of lose hair behind her ears.

 _Don_ _'_ _t like being commanded._ Thought Kayn, his face expressing none of his concerns. _That would be a major issue, especially with someone who seems to know nothing about manners in our company as well._

Noticing the abnormal silence Kayn had exhibited, the Baron questioned. "So, you are you planning to do?"

"You're kept busy by these rebels," mumbled Kayn, staring at the floor blankly, "and have no way out except for fulfilling their intended role for you…"

"So?"

"What about if we help you do that quick?"


	11. The hunt

This happened when Kayn returned to the others:

"Are you out of your mind?" As always, Allia was the first to complain. This time, however, she was also the one out of the two that made sense. "We're trying to keep a low profile!"

"I'm just trying to help." Kayn defended himself. "And what loss can we suffer helping out a gang that's destined to fail? Maybe we won't even need to get our faces seen by whoever that want to hunt them down. Besides, I don't see any options other than that."

"I don't see why not." Said Tarine. For once, Kayn was glad to have his support, but he knew the blue-haired kid only said so because he had a stereotypical yet resolute hatred towards Rouves. Now that he thought about it, it kind of occurred to him that he was also under the influence of the same kind.

 _There_ _'_ _s no other way; it_ _'_ _s the most logical and reasonable decision that_ _I_ _made._ He reminded himself. As the one who'd proposed the plan, he couldn't bare doubting himself. Not even a single "what if" was allowed in his mind, for he was basically the only one that supported himself, and he couldn't just turn against himself.

Most importantly, the most influential figure hadn't spoken…yet.

The argument went on.

"We've gone all the way here; wouldn't it be a waste if we back off now?" said Kayn. He tried to fill his voice with determination, but it just wouldn't work. Not to Allia, at least.

"If you'd met her in person, you'd say the same thing." Added Tarine. "She seemed already nice to actually have a reason to deny our request."

If Allia's face had been girlish and red with frustration, the boys might still perceive a chance of winning the debate. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Her face grim and her eyes narrow, making it no longer round, but rather solid and rigid. It said resolution with all its features tightened, and sent a message that, it was not a debate where either side stood an equal chance of winning. She was never available to being convince, with a good reason this time.

"You seriously don't understand the situation we're in, do you?"

"No, because you never told me!"

"Those guys coming after _my_ Zoid had said quite clearly that we're not allowed to risk exposing ourselves to them, I thought." Shouted the blonde. It was of pure luck that they were in a remote location where no one would really overhear their conversation.

"It _was_ your problem." Said Kayn. "Until you decided to drag everyone around you in!"

"I dragged you in?" snarled Allia. "I never asked for you accompany in the first place! Especially you two!" with that she ferociously stomped the ground, and turned to leave, only to be retained by Elvan, who held her by her shoulder.

"I can let you fight however you wish, but I can't risk exposing you in danger. You know that." He said coldly.

Allia retaliated bitterly, but couldn't free herself from the man's grip. "I should have never come to you for help! Look what you got us into!"

Elvan said nothing, but still didn't let go of her.

"So, what do you think?" Tarine asked him, before realizing that he was doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Elvan gazed upon him, not fierce enough to be a glare, yet enough to shut him up.

He would've said something more if there hadn't been a faint noise of leaves being brushed down a tree, which caused most of them to turn their attention towards some of the trees around them. When he looked back, he saw the Baron. The woman walked slowly and casually towards the group.

The only one that couldn't recognize that face was Allia, and therefore she asked, "Who are you?"

"Most probably the subject of your discussion." Replied the Baron coldly as she winked at Elvan, seemingly satisfied upon seeing him. She smiled slightly, which wasn't quite well received by Elvan. "The last time I saw you, I thought you'd run out of strategies, which seems kind of true now."

"So she's the one we've been looking for." Whispered Allia, mumbling. She'd expected to see a rather bizarrely dressed or even featured woman. But now that she'd seen the Baron in person, she could at most say that she looked normal. _That_ _'_ _s_ _really the irreplaceable one we needed?_

The Baron, however, didn't seem to notice her doubts, or just wasn't interested in it.

"Since you're here, I suppose you have something to make of yourself?" said Elvan, more likely demanding.

She ignored him, and walked simply towards the center of the group. "I remember you." She said as she walked past Kayn. Her eyes landed on Tarine, whom she remembered having seen with Elvan. Curiosity filled her. It seemed to her that her acquaintance had quite a strange habit of getting under-aged kids as his team, if there's such a thing as under-aged in the desert wasteland most people wound find themselves in. To her, it had always been the case of survival of the fittest, which meant that even the kids might have a chance of making a stance than she could. At least that's how she thought.

"Tell me something." she said coldly, resting one of her hands on Tarine's shoulder. He gave her an uncomfortable look, but didn't do much. "How did he convince all of you to follow him?"

"Maybe we can simplify things a little." interrupted Allia. "Are you going to help us, as Elvan said, or not?"

"You kind of missed the point here, young lady." replies the Baron calmly. "It's not whether I want to help you; it's about if I can help you. And I'm quite convinced that you all know the answer to that."

Tarine finally said, as he couldn't stand being silenced for so long, "About that, Kayn just suggested a crazy idea of us helping your rebel friends."

The Baron tilted her head slightly, and slid her hand towards Tarine's lower jaws, giving him a look of disappointment. "That's something you friend used to convince me in the first place." Her gaze turned towards Kayn. "Do you think you can keep you words?"

"No promises, I told you." He answered bitterly, eyeing Elvan and Allia as a gesture. "And, as you should have seen, I'm working on it."

Elvan spoke again. "And as you should know, we're not going to do so. Remember, you're only talking to us -to me -equally because I have something I need you to do, and you're gonna do it because you owe me your live. So there's nothing you can bargain from us. Do I make myself clear?"

Most of the time, Allia would have said something. This time, though, she was simply watching on the side, her face placid. It's a fresh view, at least to Kayn, to see the blonde being silenced by the sheer terror Elvan emitted in his words. That's something he did best besides piloting Zoids, Kayn recalled.

That, however, had no effect on the Baron, or so it seemed. She glanced at Elvan, and then turned to the kids, whispering, "Seriously, how did you stand him?"  
"By not making him angry, like he is now." replied Kayn, also in a whisper. "So I'm sorry for giving you a false hope, but it seems that you have to risk you family in the hands of the rebels for a while. I'm really sorry."

"Then give me a reason." said the Baron, her voice not only cold, but flat, and sounded dead. "That I should value your crusade over my family -my child."  
"What?" though scared, Allia couldn't help but snap the word. "But you look..."  
"Age is a woman's secret, dear." Said the Baron. Although she seemed she meant to joke, her voice still sounded lifeless. "But I bet I am not ld enough to be a single mother. By the way, blue boy, he should be just around your age."

"Compassion isn't something I keep in battle." said Elvan. "Good to have a try, but it doesn't work on me."

"Maybe we should consider helping her." the most unlikely sentence at the moment came from the most unlikely voice. Allia continued, "I think we should help her."  
"Why all the sudden?"

Allia thought for a while. Yes, she could easily admit that she, too, had a family at risk and a family to miss, but now didn't seem to be the best timing. She could, however, tell the pain of losing someone close to her, because she's just experienced that months ago. And judging by Kayn's story, she could be certain that he knew it too. Most importantly, she was worried. What she wanted the Baron in was dangerous, though she still wasn't certain as to her role in the upcoming plans. She could, however, be certain that what she's about to get into might cause her life, and it was her child that Allia worried about. She knew hiw it felt to lost a parent, and didn't want someone to suffer from that pain. That was also one of the reasons she had insisted that Elvan should not drag Kayn and Tarine into her course. But she wouldn't say that, because that means exposing her secrets. It's too soon for that.

So instead, she just said, "I am practically your client. Should you not listen to me?"

"That's quite some guts, talking to him like that." whispered the Baron; her smirk wasn't even subtle.

Elvan, however, didn't seem to be particularly concern. He gazed upon Allia with a look of neither arrogance nor authority, but definitely of seriousness, when he said, "Remember that you agreed to follow my instructions. That's my term at the very beginning. If you wish to defy it, you're welcome. But I won't be held responsible for what happens next, nor will I continue to assist you."

Allia spoke without thinking twice. "When have your instructions been constructive? We have found the Baron, as you demanded. This is the first real progress in our journey, and you're telling us to do exactly opposite to what you had said?"  
"At least I haven't been destructive." said Elvan coldly. He showed no signs of giving in; he was like a statue, a talking and authoritative one, who just happened to be accompanying a defiant girl. It would make perfect sense that even a suicide threat couldn't move him. But Allia refused to give up, and proceeded in her offensive persuasion in vain.

Kayn, while watching in the side, found himself stuck in a position where he could help neither. He remembered the reason he had been forced to go with the company in the first place. It had always been because both Allia and Elvan needed him to, not because he wanted to. And even if he'd wanted to, he wouldn't have foreseen an argument like this occurring, given the grotesque situation he founs himself in.

"Then what do you suggest we do, Elvan? She isn't coming with us on your terms, and I don't think she's someone that can be forced into doing anything against her will."

"If she really was, then we wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place." muttered Tarine, responded by a wink from the Baron. Kayn would have scolded him, for being so detached in a time like this, yet for a moment he secretly looked up to the boy, or at least considered that his personality would really be something he could only dream of. He couldn't imagine being lax all the time, as though there were literally no problems in the world. It would be awful, and boring, and purposeless. And, somehow, it would be...nice, to have nothing to worry about every once in a while.

But, since that wasn't going to happen anytime, he decided he should continue to make things go the best way possible. Therefore, he said, "I don't know what is it that you intended the Baron to do, but can't we be more flexible?"

Elvan, as he'd known, wasn't a man to be easily convinced. He insisted that the group should not take part in anything related to the local rebel group, which made perfect sense except that was the only way that prevented the Baron from lending them a hand.

"If we do as she says, chances are that you might not even get out alive, let alone saving others." said Elvan. "Do you know the meaning of joining a rebel group against Rouves? They won't go easy on them -on us. And I don't think any of us here stands a chance."

"I'm not asking you to join." Sighed the Baron. "You can always wait until they have the appetite to let me free. Or, you can help me rescue me son, if you think that's possible, for even I haven't been able to do that."

"What if we really do..." said Kayn, interrupted.

"If we really do that, you'll agree to help us?" repeated Kayn.  
"I'll have no reason not to," replied the Baron, not even hesitantly, "provided you actually did"

* * *

Walking along the hall way of the official building of National Defense of Zya, the first thing that came into Hale's mind was that he'd not seen Wels for an extended period of time, and that he wasn't sure if visiting, or being invited, by the creepy man was something he enjoyed.

Still, meeting him meant a mission. And a mission meant fun.  
The corridor was delicately furnished, with a royal blue paint covering the ground l, coupled with some golden yellow outline. The walls themselves were simple, decorated by the paintings -portraits of people whose names he'd never heard of -and their classy metal frames, which shone a bright bronze flare. He would have used red else where if it had been up to him to design the decorations, unfortunately that would never happen, considering that red was quite a color unwelcome by the royal family, claiming that it looked "too violent".

While he was digressing mentally, another official member walked out of the room at the end of the hallway. He eyed Hale with a weird look. Hale could understand that. After all, there really wasn't too many twelve-year-old genius pilots roaming around idly, ready to be used by the military. And on top of that his appearance somehow made that happen as well. He had short gray hair and a pair of amber-like eyes, not a common sight for a kid, not to mention that he looked extremely bizarre in a uniform, which he knew himself as well.

"What makes you decide you need me again?" he said as he stepped into Wels' room, before he noticed another official the room, who immediately looked at him with questioning eyes that burned with dissatisfaction.

Wels, however, indulged the manners of the young pilot, and said directly, "I have a target that mu best men have failed to terminate time to time again."

"And you decided I would fit the job, after I accidentally burnt down a village the last time I was on the frontline?"

The official looked at Hale more furiously, anger written on his bent lips.  
"We both know better that you don't allow accidents to happen," said Wels calmly. He turned his focus on the official. "You seem to have something to say, major Hooper."

Hooper said immediately after a bow, "Sir, I wish to point out the youngster's misbehavior."

Hale took no offence from that. "You're his 'sir' now?"

"The king recently granted me full control over military. Is there a problem?"

"Not at all." replied Hale. "You know I always listen to you, and you only, unlike..." he stared at Hooper for a while, and couldn't help but notice his extremely squared jaws. "Captain Jaws. Can I call you that, cause you have quote a powerful jaw, it seems."

Hooper could no longer contain his anger. "Sir, you should not tolerate thus kind of misconduct and complete disregard for discipline, even for a young boy like him."  
"I will take care of it." answered Wels softly. "And you should take care of the riots soon. Get prepared."

"Yes sir." Hooper nodded and left after Wels gestured him to.  
"And you, Hale." said Wels, his voice solemn. "You are not a solider, but that doesn't mean you have privileges."

"I do my best to earn them." replied Hale. "For example, you're target. Getting it would be my way of earning privileges." he smirked. "So, who should I get?"  
Wels handed him a picture.

"That's quite something." muttered Hale as soon as he received the picture. "You want to do this? Even with you position, you might get into trouble."

"That's why you were called upon. Get to your sister and prepare. You also need to know this Zoid." said Wels, handing him a picture that depicted a blue Liger.


	12. Entering the rebels

Kayn could not possibly believe what he was seeing. At least, that was what he thought, until several minutes later when he eventually accepted that he was really walking in reality. Before him was a chamber, most likely a bomb shelter, an abandoned one, built under the city Fornus, the one that they had been just mere minutes ago. And more importantly, it seemed that no one had noticed the entranced to the shelter.

But what was more impressive was that a crowd was gathered there. Crowd was probably not a suitable word, for the people there were quite organized, having a clear division of labor visible even under the dim light of the orange torch fire. It made the chamber appear ghostly, with flickers and shadows appearing and disappearing randomly in every direction.

"I was expecting something less." Commented Allia, standing just behind Kayn. "I thought you said they were just 'a bunch of rogues'?"  
"You haven't seen their true nature yet." Replied the Baron calmly, leading the way through the sea of people.

There were literally every kind of people present, from tough-looking men to women that seemed to be somewhat submissive or manly, and even children, focusing on their work presumably given by the rebels rather than playing around. The light was dim, but the shapes were definite, and they seemed to be united, contrary to what the Baron had claimed. From there, a man with clear masculine feature -muscles constructing his arms like rocks stacking on a hill and short, greasy facial hair -walked up.

"So you have returned, I see." He said, his voice louder than needed be. "And you've brought company."

"Save your greeting for later." snapped the Baron, ignoring the grin on the man's face. "I want to see your hostage."

"We will talk about that later." the man said lightly, teasing. "First, you have to show that you did work for us."

"If you needed me that much, you wouldn't have sent me for scouting."

"Even the greatest thief needs preparation." the man smirked. "Which, you are not. You are only here because you are easy to be manipulated, and have quite some skills."

The Baron frowned. Obviously she had distaste for the man, and obviously he didn't care. Kayn watched on the side. He had thought, for a moment, that the man's disregard of respect was the "rogue nature" the Baron had compared the rebels to, but it was more than that. He could see that the man wasn't just being arrogant because he wanted to, but also because he could. He imagined the man showing the Baron her son, holding a knife by his throat and demand for some unimaginable requests just because he could. Kayn was pretty sure that the man had a place in the rebel, and had been behind the kidnapping of the Baron's son.

 _She'd made a mistake taking them as commonplace._ Thought Kayn. The leader of the rebel, whoever that was, was clever, and calculative, and presumably persuasive in a manner, considering the members in the organization. It was more than just a group of rebels.

"By the way, when will you tell me the reason of your choice of alias?" the man uttered, his hand resting on the Baron's shoulder. She immediately shoved it off, but he just laughed in response.

"Vince, I am telling you this." the Baron said. For the first time, her seriousness threatened her companions. Tarine, who had been standing beside her, flinched upon hearing her voice. It was more than threatening, he knew. It was the kind of snarl that he would shout at whoever dared touch his village before burning that someone into ashes. And judging by the Baron's attitude towards that Vince guy, he could easily predict what's going to him once he lost his leverage.

"You don't want to mess with me." before anyone could react, the Baron had already shifted into an aggressive position with a "thwip" sound, followed by Vince's falling head-first and being pinned to the ground by the Baron's powerful stomp over his jaw.

Vince growled, but the Baron ignored him, staring into his eyes atop with mockery and threat. Everyone else around, who had just been focusing on their respective work and had shed no concern over the conversation, turned with keen eyes towards where the Baron stood. Words started to emerged, babbles as first, and becoming more and more unrecognizable as more and more started to mutter.  
"I'm quite sure we should get a better relationship with those guys?" said Allia to Elvan.

"This will end soon." Elvan said. "I don't think they dare talk loud."

The Baron pushed harder with her feet, red marks clearly left on Vince's jaw as the Baron ran her feet down the throat of the man, suffocating him. He choked, and then ran his fingers along his throat as he gasped for air, every of his breaths clearly audible. It was only then did the Baron go easy on him abd let him go.  
"You don't get to bargain with me." whispered the Baron coldly, so that only Vince and a few that stood close enough to them could hear. "Not if you want to live to see you rebellion even begins!"

Vince stood up, but only barely, his hands clinging on to a few others close to him so he could balance himself. He started to talk, but couldn't make an understandable word into the thin air as he spoke between breaths.

"Don't waste your energy." said the Baron. "Take me to my child."

Vince said nothing as he shake of the others grips, standing unsteadily, making himself look like a clown. His eyes said everything. They were narrowed, tense, like a stretched bowstring, and their pupils contracted, making his dark eyes look even smaller than they had already done in the dark.

He turned, and walked speechlessly. The Baron followed, and so did the group.

* * *

Another thing Kayn could not believe he saw:

They had been led into a small chamber, a bit like a cell -a bit like a prison cell, but less messy -by Vince. The room was walled by red bricks, with a single door leading to its opening.

"Remember your service to us." said Vince as he opened the door, standing aside. He could probably have muttered a few curses if not for fear that the Baron should strike him hard again.

The next voice Kayn heard was a young voice, shouting, "Mom!" before a shape ran out of the cell and embraced the Baron.

He looked like a child, Kayn would say, more like a child than he did. The boy was estimated to be no more than eleven, wearing battered clothes that revealed much of his tan skin. Fortunately he couldn't find any read marks that would indicate torturing; otherwise someone else would be in serious trouble.

The Baron dropped to her knees, hugging her child with a crease across her face, which revealed much, but most visibly wrinkles. That face was that of a mother, Kayn identified. At least that was he remembered his. It was nearly impossible to believe that this Baron was the same person he'd seen just minutes ago, the remorseless murderer that she could have been if she had needed to be.  
"Mom, when can I get out of here?" the child asked, his face filled with both anticipation and worry.

"Soon." answered the Baron, her voice soft and soothing, promising.

Kayn took the time to do something else, something more serious. He knew the Baron didn't just bring them here so that they could see her family reunion. While Vince was looking aside from the cheek-kissing and the conversation between the Baron and her son, Kayn took the chance to observe the cell, as he was certain a other of his companions would.

The chamber was quite literally a prison cell, with just a door as a man-sized passage in and out, the only other way out being a small opening on the wall that served as a window, except light really didn't go in very well, so he couldn't see what's outside. What's inside, too, was limited. There was a bed, with blankets that guarantee not to keep warmth well and a table, and that's it.

"Alright, about time you should leave." said Vince emotionlessly, his voice echoing along the hallway.

"I'll be back soon. I promise." said the Baron, kissing her son's cheek again before he was escorted back into his room with lingering and watery eyes.

* * *

A room would have been something that Hale would not take for granted, if his talent hadn't been discovered some time ago. But even now, it felt strange to just walk into a confined space knowing that it was somewhere he could stay at, safe.

The room he walked in was decorated in a simplistic fashion despite its unusually large usable surface area. It was partially because he had to share this room with his sister. Still, it was larger than usual. Its walls white with shades of gray forming from shadows, where the closed dark blue curtains block sunlight from shining on.

On one end if the room was a long working table, made of polished wood and splattered with sheets of paper. Next to it sat a slander female, staring at the papers as though something might pop out of theme at any moment.

Hale took no particular notice to the female. She was his sister, after all, despite their seven years age gap, and the fact that she had silky light brown hair unlike him. Apparently she noticed him as well, although she only turned to him for less than a second to acknowledge his return.

The first thing Hale did was unbuttoning his shirt, which he'd claimed to be "a box" and tossing it aside to the double bunk bed.

"How did the meeting go?" asked his sister, her eyes fixed on the papers as she busied herself with them.

"Well, there was something like this, and something like that, and then I got to go on a mission again." replied Hale, sounding bored.

"I suppose that means it was good."

"There is never a 'good' meeting, Nila."

"At least it shouldn't have been a bad one." said Nila. "Good for you, though."

Hale looked around, clueless, before starting towards Nila. "Have you seen my suit, sis?" he asked, his voice pleading.

Nila turned around. "You should have asked that before stripping off." she said softly as she landed one hand on his bare shoulder, drawing him closer. "You should be thankful the curtains are closed. Nobody want to see you in your briefs."

"As far as the term 'stripping off', I wouldn't exactly call those clothes in the first place." said Hale.

Nila ignored him. "Would it be too harsh to ask you to clean your bed?" she whispered into his ear. Before he could reply "a little," she had already taken a pack of clothes from one of the drawers under the desk and said, "Thank me."

"Thank you." whispered Hale, taking the pack of clothes. It was special to him, so he once again thanked his sister for having kept it for him. It was made of a material that was rather uncommon even among the wealthy -a black, stretchy fabric that allowed some sort of extreme movements nobody even needed. It was a courtesy of Wels, like any other unusual things he was able to do, for instance tracking down the Liger Zero X.

"So, where are you going?"

"No idea so far." said Hale, his voice muffed as he busied himself putting on the suit.

* * *

The Baron could do something more than just beating an important member of the rebellion to prove that she deserved VIP treatment, but she didn't need to. Right after the visit to the cell, where her son was being held captive, she had demanded to be left alone with Elvan's group in an empty room, discussing their next move. It wasn't easy to ensure that there wouldn't be any eavesdropping; she had had to insist over and ever again to the rebels that Elvan's group was less a threat and more an ally, and that she was a friend of theirs. But even with all those talk she could not be certain, so Tarine volunteered that he would be lingering along the hallway to keep the group safe.

"What about from the walls?" asked Allia.

"You can be less skeptical when I tell you to." said the Baron lightly. "These walls were made to prevent bombs that can take out a Zoid in one hit. So as long as we stay calm and stand by the principle that nobody shouts, we'll be fine."

"Then let's get started." said Elvan impatiently. The both the Baron and Kayn knew well the cause of it, but decided not to think about it for a second.

"We have to break your son out of the cell," uttered Kayn, more like talking to himself than in a discussion as he rested his chin atop his palm. "I have only noticed one easy way out so far."

"If you're talking about the window, forget it." said the Baron. "It is not actually an window, but rather a ventilation system, which could lead us to an eventual exit. But first you'll have to go through a maze of these passages once you've gotten into the system, and you'll have to be small enough to move around.

Allia spoke up. "Can't we?"

The Baron shook her head in depression. "I don't think even you can."

"We don't have to." suggested Kayn. "Can't we use the front door."

"There were guards there. I thought you saw theme." Snapped Allia. "We can't just walk pass tem like we're invisible."

"That could work, actually," Elvan corrected her. "The guards must have a shifting period, where there will be a short blind period for them."

"And if we can prolong that period by distracting them." added Kayn. He imagined the cell's structure in his mind again and again like a blueprint, hoping to find a flaw in its design, but couldn't. Logically speaking, it's simply impossible to get into the cell and coming out undetected.

 _Unless..._ he felt like he was coming close to a solution. _What if we want to be spotted?_

"I have a plan." He said. "And its gonna need almost every one of us here to complete it."

"You sure it'll work?" asked the Baron.

"I think it'll be our only shot."

* * *

That night the Baron spent her time in the room where she had been approached by Kayn that morning. She sat on the bed, staring out of the window at the darkness that devoured every view. With or without it, she wouldn't be able to see a thing.

" _The plan takes place tomorrow._ " She remembered what Kayn had said.  
Lying down her gaze shifted to the ceiling, which was falling apart on its own stealthily, like how she usually handled her infiltration missions. It all came down to tomorrow.

 _Relax._ She told herself silently. _Sneaking into and out of places is your profession. It's not like it's the first time you smuggle something with this skill set._  
She could not, however, let her racing heartbeat calm.

 _Tomorrow._

She couldn't possibly name the feeling she was experiencing. Even before, when the rebels had told her they had had her son, she wasn't nearly as nervous. They then told her to help them by infiltrating the city hall to acquire a set of documents about locations of Rouves' stashes and army arrangement, and she never flinched a bit.

But now, just the thought of getting her son out was killing her. She tried to even her breathes, but found it impossible.

Nothing's happening now, she knew. She had been through tougher situations, ones that would let someone die just by uncontrollable heartbeats, and she had been through all those on her own, alone.

Not this time.

She couldn't lie to herself, but she didn't trust Elvan as much as she wanted herself. She didn't know why, but they just didn't seem good enough. Normally it would mean that she would take on her own approach and act on her own.

 _Not this time._

Closing her eyes she forced her mind to blank. _Tomorrow._

* * *

 **I'm going to stop undating from now on since...well, nobdy really seems to care anyway and I've something I'm more interested in to do.**


End file.
